Ok, so now that I have ruled out the possibility of building a French never-was, I have revised my potential project ship list. Please keep in mind that these are using MWC rules: Soviet battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya (formerly Gangut), post-reconstruction: This looks to be very good in WMC rules. The ship has four triple turrets, so there are lots of configuration options for the guns. My only real concern is how difficult she would be to build. The hull seems to have a rather complex shape, so it may be a bit too challenging. Anyway, here are the specs: 607ft. OA, 105ft. beam, 24,500t standard, 4 shafts, 2 rudders, 26 sec speed, 4.5 units French battleship Bretagne, pre-reconstruction: This would be the version before they added that crazy tall tower to the superstructure. This ship has five turrets with dual guns, also allowing for lots of different configs. I think this is a prettier ship than the O.R. (that's not hard, tho), but I don't think it will be quite as effective in battle. It's also a bit smaller, which I consider a good thing at this scale. 545ft. OA, 89ft. beam, 23300t standard, 4 shafts, 1 rudder, 28 sec speed, 4.5 units What do you guys think? Ryan
Either is good. I don't think that Gangut is particularly difficult to build, but Bretagne would be an easier build.
I agree with von Tugboat. Either is good and seem about the same in the difficulty spectrum. I wholeheartedly agree that the as built Bretagnes are better looking.
The Gangut will probably turn better but I personally like the gun layout on the Bretagne more. Both have lots of casemates which while harder to build is handy. I'd have to say I'd probably go with the Gangut, its faster, my money is on it turning better, and if you can get enough downangle on the guns you could have it be Von Der Tann-ish (which is a very good thing for you) and if not just throw triples in the back and go have some fun. On the other hand Bretagne has a very nice gun layout for a 75 rd stern sidemount which can de devasting, if you can catch someone and get them under it with a 28 sec ship.
Oh, almost forgot, there is the Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya as well. It basically is a slightly smaller version of the Gangut, but it has the same guns, layout, and everything. I can't seem to find any line drawings for it tho, so I am not sure if it would be any easier to build than a late Gangut.
you would also slip back to 28 second speed, as the Gangster is only JUST long enough to get 26 sec...
Historically speaking the Black Sea ships were slower, the Ganguts were designed for 23 knots and the Imp. Maria's were designed for 21.
Hey, has anyone built a Courbet? I have been looking over the plans (thank you, France), and the wing turrets look like they might be fun. The problem is that they are 4 unit ships with a single rudder and 28 sec.... Hmmmm... I would need to think about the cannon arrangement on one of those.
The scale rudder is oversized according to the rules. So it should turn fairly well, which is good since running away is not an option. There has been talk of the Courberts of late mainly due to the availability of the French archives.
I have seen a Gangut in the IRCWCC many years ago. It was a truly nice boat. And it was a tuff nut to crack open. I have never seen either a Courbet, or Bretagne. But I sure would like to. I plan to build one or the other, or both, down the road. I am not sure which of the Frenchies would be the better boat. I also can't decide which I like better. Mikey
I'd very much like to someday build a Bretagne due to it's uniquness and probable combat capabilities. Did I mention that it would be unique? That is enough for me to build one. Heh.
