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Originally Posted by Admiral Von Gerlach
Wow wonderful work! i reccognize those ships very well, having commanded them all in various wargaming engagments with the Naval Wargamming Society in the UK many many years ago, as both Kapitan and Admiral. It is very exciting to see the big brothers coming to life under your noble skills sir.
Seeing them brings to mind the many many discussions and debates each year in the naval appropriations of each nation all the decisions about number and location of turrets, size of ships, armament, armour strength, speed and so forth as each of the great fleets was created. As an interesting historical note, the cost of these great ships was enormous for that era and would be even more so if it were in modern costs. 20,000,000 pounds of money of that era was required for each ship yearly of that size so imagine the overall cost, in creating both the ships and all of the equipment, armament, ammunition, training ashore and at sea of the crews of hundreds of thousands of sailors and officers, proviisioning, suppying and training of all of the same, fleet bases, harbours supply stations, coaling staitons world wide, defense, and deployment. The ships themselves were just the tip of the huge spear each fleet consisted of. And then each of the classes of ships large and small each ship had its own character, history, trimphs and tragedies and much of that will be forever unknown. Your work is helping lift the curtain on that, and for that I am so grateful.
thank you so much for giving the past and its history a voice again. Not even Scapa Flow could keep those ones asleep...and you are doing so well. thank you!
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My pleasure!
You mentioned turret arrangements. While researching the "Kaiser" and her (his?) sisters I've been trying to discover exactly how the steam launches and boats were arranged before battle. Most models I've seen on the internet seem to show these ships in harbor. From the way the boats were stowed in non-combat situations, they would block some of the midships turret firing arcs, or possibly get set on fire by the turret blast.
I know that in WWII the Japanese would remove most lifeboats from their battleships before combat to clear turret arcs and to reduce the fire/splinter hazard. IJN battleship sailors had to rely on life vests if their ships sank. Maybe the Kaiserliche Marine did the same thing?
I used to think that these ships were a little weird because of the offset turrets amidships, but now I like their appearance. Tough looking and much better armored than the "Iron Dukes", "Invincibles", etc.
Thanks for your comments, and if anyone can help with the boat stowage issue, it would be welcome!