Okay I'm a little confused. How can a Des Moines Class Hvy Cruiser be 59.75 inches long and the South Dakota class Battleship be 56.66 inches long? I'm refering to the ship hulls from BC. I thought a battleship was bigger than a Hvy cruiser?
look at a Konig 48in. and 21 lb.(1913)Battleship. and Scharnhors 64in. and 29 lb. (1935) Battlecruiser its all in advancement in years of war
Des Moines is a monster of a cruiser, really nothing like nothing before or after her. She's actually closer to a battlecruiser in firepower. The size is due to her armament: the 8 inch guns were auto loading, which increased her rate-of-fire to 10 rounds per gun per minute. Over that minute, Des Moines could put more weight of shell in the air then many capital ships. An example follows: Scharnhorst class BB: 9 X 11.1" guns AP shell = 727.5 lbs ROF = 3.5 rounds per minute throwweight per minute = 22,916.25 lbs Des Moines class CA: 9 X 8" guns AP shell 335 lbs ROF = 10 rounds per minute throwweight per minute = 30,150 lbs As you can see, over time, Des Moines can put more explosives in the air then a small battleship. What's funny, is that at most realistic battle ranges 15k-23k yards (longest hit on record is 26k yards) the Des Moines is actually a better deck penetrator then is the Scharnhorst! On paper, it's not inconcievable that 1v1, Des Moines would win an encounter. Numbers for gun performance and weapon penetration are from this site: http://navweaps.com/Weapons/index_weapons.htm That's the long way of explaining why she's so bloody big.
Cruisers were built for speed, thus they were long and thin, which is the easiest to push through the water. Battleships were built with gunnery in mind, and the much wider, and sometimes shorter hulls provided a more stable platform with which to unleash a barrage of large calibre shells.
The Des Moines may be longer but she is not Bigger. She neither out weighs or is wider than any of the BB's. And for the small gunners, she is a BFT Big Floating Target board.
The Des Moines may be longer but she is not Bigger. She neither out weighs or is wider than any of the BB's. And for the small gunners, she is a BFT Big Floating Target board. With triples off of the stern, she can be real mean if run properly in fast gun.
