Just curious if anyone is fighting a Tennessee or a California under Big Gun rules, and what handling peculiarities you may have discovered with a short four screw hull.
I helped refit a USS California once. Although it is larger than a Viribus Unitis, it carries the same armament in Big Gun (four triple 7/32" cannons, total 12 guns). Despite its extra size over the VU, I found it almost as hard to fit guns into the California as for the VU. It is a dreadnought, but does not handle quite as good as twin-rudder dreadnoughts like Warspite and Baden. The heavy armor is nice, as is the large displacement, but its firepower is lacking for its size. Shortly after the original owner built his USS California, I showed him the 1920's-era USS South Dakota BB-49. He facepalmed and said he should have built that instead. It's slightly bigger and has four of the larger triple 1/4" cannons. Same number of guns, but the larger size is a big step up in firepower. And since firepower is the only thing those ships have going for them, you want as much of it as you can get.
Does your club set intervals for 8 seconds on the 7/32? If so, the smaller gun adds 33% in terms of number of rounds fired. Just a thought. Did the California have keep the bulk of battereis, gas and servos near the center (longitudinally) of the ship?
WWCC has the 7/32" guns firing every six seconds, so yes the California could fire more rounds in a given time than a dreadnought SoDak could. However, the improvements in penetrating power and flow outweigh the rate-of-fire advantage. Yes, batteries and bottle were kept near the center of the hull. However, the tubby hull did require several large chunks of lead to get it down to scale waterline, and the only available space was at the bow and stern.
Jeff Burns (admiral jkb) has both a Tennessee and South Dakota (BB-49). I can give you his contact info via PM. I have a Tennessee hull that I have not built yet. I am waiting for the next generation of cannons. I would like to make it dual format capable (fast gun and big gun). I can PM you my contact info as well. I have put years of thought into it.
