Warship design program

[Hellcat]

Just discovered this program lately, basically you input all your data and it throws it together and tells ya how effective your design is. Really neat as you can see if you can better the historic designs in firepower and surviviability....

http://www.springsharp.com/

Your thoughts and opinions?

[Iceman]

Looks Cool...

[Abraham]

Looks nice, bookmarked.

[Hellcat]

I've seen on other boards that they have design competitions which are judged by moderators for meeting design specifications closest. Sounds interesting enough that prehaps we should give it a go here? For example design a heavy cruiser which follows the washington treaty of limitations to the limits.... Basically what is the best mix of primary weapons? engine? cruising range? what was the ship designed to counter? ie the Alaska battlecruiser's were built to counter the "super cruisers" which were supposedly under construction by the Japanese.....

[TLAM Strike]

Very good idea Hellcat!! The winner wouldn't really earn anything, maybe just a little lmage they could add to their sig saying they were the Novmember Winner ETC.

[Neutrino 123]

I'm in . Any experts that can judge?

By the way, we should probably keep the designs to light cruiser and above. The program seems to have problems with destroyers (it admits this somewhere, but the solution it proposes doesn't seem to work for many destroyers).

[Hellcat]

Yes the destoryers dont quite work out, I suppose it has something to do with the stresses put on such a narrow hull... Anything from a CL to a BB works ok. (from my limited research) Do any of the moderators here have the background to judge this sorta thing?

[TLAM Strike]

I’ve suggested the mods start a design competition in the Comments to Subsim board. If none are interested I’ll start one along with anyone else interested in helping with the judging (or it could be a community vote based system if that doesn’t work out).

I've been able to make a few somewhat succesful DDs and Escorts, Here is an example:

Type 2 Class Destroyer, USA Destroyer Escort laid down 1939

Displacement:
2,686 t light; 2,749 t standard; 2,999 t normal; 3,199 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
284.09 ft / 280.00 ft x 40.00 ft (Bulges 55.00 ft) x 24.00 ft (normal load)
86.59 m / 85.34 m x 12.19 m (Bulges 16.76 m) x 7.32 m

Armament:
1 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm guns in single mounts, 13.50lbs / 6.12kg shells, 1939 Model
Dual purpose gun in a turret (on a barbette)
on centreline forward
4 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns in single mounts, 1.95lbs / 0.88kg shells, 1939 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, evenly spread
6 - 0.79" / 20.0 mm guns in single mounts, 0.24lbs / 0.11kg shells, 1939 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 23 lbs / 10 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 150

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 2.00" / 51 mm 159.60 ft / 48.65 m 8.49 ft / 2.59 m
Ends: 1.00" / 25 mm 120.38 ft / 36.69 m 8.49 ft / 2.59 m
Main Belt covers 88 % of normal length
Main belt does not fully cover magazines and engineering spaces

- Torpedo Bulkhead and Bulges:
3.00" / 76 mm 159.60 ft / 48.65 m 3.74 ft / 1.14 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 2.00" / 51 mm - 2.00" / 51 mm

- Armour deck: 2.00" / 51 mm, Conning tower: 3.00" / 76 mm

Machinery:
Diesel Internal combustion motors,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 27,657 shp / 20,632 Kw = 29.00 kts
Range 3,000nm at 18.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 450 tons

Complement:
202 - 263

Cost:
£1.171 million / $4.682 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 3 tons, 0.1 %
Armour: 537 tons, 17.9 %
- Belts: 155 tons, 5.2 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 66 tons, 2.2 %
- Armament: 7 tons, 0.2 %
- Armour Deck: 295 tons, 9.8 %
- Conning Tower: 13 tons, 0.4 %
Machinery: 748 tons, 25.0 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 1,099 tons, 36.6 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 313 tons, 10.4 %
Miscellaneous weights: 300 tons, 10.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
3,632 lbs / 1,647 Kg = 269.0 x 3.0 " / 76 mm shells or 1.2 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.08
Metacentric height 1.5 ft / 0.4 m
Roll period: 19.1 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 80 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.01
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.45

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has raised forecastle, rise forward of midbreak, raised quarterdeck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.284
Length to Beam Ratio: 5.09 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 21.36 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 69 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 55
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 8.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 1.00 ft / 0.30 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 22.00 ft / 6.71 m
- Forecastle (25 %): 22.00 ft / 6.71 m (20.00 ft / 6.10 m aft of break)
- Mid (50 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m (16.00 ft / 4.88 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (18 %): 19.00 ft / 5.79 m (16.00 ft / 4.88 m before break)
- Stern: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
- Average freeboard: 19.04 ft / 5.80 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 186.3 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 133.5 %
Waterplane Area: 7,974 Square feet or 741 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 127 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 63 lbs/sq ft or 308 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.71
- Longitudinal: 9.91
- Overall: 0.93
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

Its possable but difficult.

[Godalmighty83]

much more detailed then my usual design programme (naval ops : commander)

but a lack of interactivity puts me off, i prefer to see my designs in action.