For the return in propulsion, such a vessel should have a proportionately larger penalty in points, just like you'd pay more point for the sinking of a 1st-rate than a frigate Which brings to mind a (few) questions... the rules as extant do not specify an upper limit to rudder size. If a galley uses an electric motor for power, are we still allowing it unlimited rudder size? I'm not picking on the Confederacy, but no one had really proposed a galley prior to this point so I hadn't thought about galleys, nor ships with sweeps. For that matter, do we differentiate between galleys and ships with sweeps, as from my reading last night, a fair number of small ships had sweeps and most could do 2, maybe 3 knots underway on sweeps. Or do we go simple, and say that ships declaring the use of sweeps for a battle simply attach one of the little torpedo motors to their rudder, and take a small points penalty in return. For just that one battle. That way, you don't have to engineer your whole ship around the oars to get the benefit of sweeps, as opposed to running a proper galley, which would fall under the points-for-destroyed oars rule, etc? My issue with calling ships with sweeps out 'a galley' in rules terms is that one could do this, give it an electric propulsion motor in front of the rudder in addition to the sails, which would give a great increase in maneuvering, without the concomitant loss of firepower that a true galley would take in return for the benefit. Additionally, a real ship would be loathe to enter combat on sweeps because they sapped the manpower from the gundecks... someone had to row, after all I appreciate Steve bringing this up; his propensity for causing thinking in others is well-established
It seemed to be a fad in the late 1600 and early 1700 hundreds, particularly in the Med where there were no trade winds to speak of. One of the more famous galley frigates was Capt. Kidd's Adventure (full name Adventure Galley). Cutaway of Adventure Galley FYI, I'm not trying to push any agenda here in regards to oared propulsion. I just find this little known aspect of marine architecture fascinating. Steve
I didn't think you were being malicious Steve Like I said, you got me thinking. Adventure Galley was the fastest that I read about, doing 3 knots under sweeps.
It certainly makes sense to have oars in the Med in the 1600's and 1700's. Not so much for the speed as for the maneuverability. This was when the classic galley was still commonly being used as a warship, and galleys loved to attack tall ships when there was little to no wind. Those oars would hopefully give a frigate the maneuverability to aim its broadsides and fight off attacking galleys. I'm not sure how I'd treat such ships in our hobby, however. Perhaps the oars could be an option, where you have the motor installed, and can use it in combat if you put breakable oars (balsa sticks poking out from the side, with associated points for breaking the oars) on the ship, or you can disconnect the motor and take off the oars (and associated points).
But my contention is that if one put the oars in the water, they would be the equivalent of several drag discs, allowing a higher thrust from the prop against the rudder, greatly increasing the maneuvering capabilities. Yeah, they work against the sails' effort, but if you're just trying to avoid getting sunk, you can turn tight circles while the sail-bound ships are forced to do the best they can.
Are the guinea pigs allowed to help row the boat? This extended version of the Geico ad may give you some tips for when it comes to training. http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/geico-guinea-pigs
Welp, the Le Requin build has started. So far, 7 hours over 4 evenings to plan the construction as well as making and cutting out templates for ribs, keel, and subdeck. Saturday we did a road trip to get wood at two different stores. 3 hours yesterday was spent cutting out and cleaning up the ribs and such. Tonight's plan is to cut the slots into the various pieces and trial fit them together, perhaps even start gluing. I've decided to actually keep track on the time spent on this project. Always been curious how many hours it takes to scratch build a hull and ship. Unfortuantely, our camera which has literally been through a war (Iraq 1997) finally decided to stop working this weekend. It will take a picture, but the screen in back is blank so it is kinda hard to aim it. If the camera was working, I would start a full blown build thread in the construction section.
