Had anyone heard of the Ersatz Monarch class battleships planned for the Austro-Hungarian navy? They were essentially an improved Tegetthof (AKA Viribus Unitas) class ships before. if your club allows hypothetical ships, these might be interesting little ships. http://www.viribusunitis.ca/ersatzmonarch.html
Those are nice. I would also like to see the Greek Salamis, which was launched and fought over between Greece and Germany until 1931.
Historically, the Ersatz Monarch class would have been a huge improvement over the Viribus Unitis class. However, in our sport, it isn't much better (if at all). Since my club allows certain hypotheticals, I did investigate the possibility of building the Ersatz Monarch instead of my VU. Let's compare: Armament: The Viribus is armed with 12x 12" guns, vs Ersatz Monarch with 10x 13.8" guns. Since the cutoff between 7/32" and 1/4" guns is 15 inches, the bigger guns on the Monarch aren't enough to get the more desirable 1/4" guns. The layout, twins over triples, is also less desirable, since it gives more depression to the less dense turrets. The secondary guns are slightly more interesting, but both ships are far too small to be arming secondary cannons. Overall, this category goes to the VU. torpedoes: The VU has 4 torpedoes, one in each direction, vs the Ersatz Monarch's 5 torpedoes (2 in each broadside, 1 bow). The Monarch packs two torpedoes where the VU has one, and it has the volume needed to install them. This category goes to the Monarch. Hull: The VU is 20,000 tons, vs the Ersatz Monarch's 24,000 tons. The Monarch also has an additional deck, improving its seakeeping at the expense of larger target area. That extra target area is right where people like to shoot this ship, so unless you're sailing on the Great Lakes, I would give this category to the VU. Armor: The VU gets 3/32" armor, the Ersatz Monarch gets 1/8" armor. This heavier armor makes a huge difference in terms of taking damage and survivability, so this category goes to the Monarch, hands-down. Speed: both ships are slow, so they run at your club's minimum warship speed. In WWCC, this is 25 knots, although some other clubs are even slower. No winner here. Maneuverability: Both ships have the same prop/rudder arrangement, but the Ersatz Monarch is bigger. For small ships like these, turning is critical, and the VU takes the prize here. Overall, the VU wins 3 categories to the Monarch's 2 categories. Maneuverability, small target profile, and piles of guns make the VU a tougher customer than the Monarch, especially with a good 6-barrel stern gun like what I built. I'll admit, the extra armor is very interesting, because it does make a significant difference in the damage it will take, and twin underwater torpedoes is another powerful incentive. But the overall lack of documentation and its hypothetical status, combined with the other factors against the Ersatz Monarch, ultimately made me decide in favor of the VU.
