All seriousness aside, would the triplane rudder in the attached picture be acceptable under the Rules? It appears to have but a single rudderhead.
The ship in the picture falls under the Steampunk era. She is the French armored ram BELIER. She was launched in 1870. She carries her main battery of 2x 9.4" guns in a single turret forward. At 66 meters at the waterline her overall length would be around 72 meters. Her underwater ram is a little over 3 meters long (not allowed at all under current Steampunk Flotilla rule), and her stern overhang looks to be at least that much. At 1/96 she would be much shorter, a bit wider and her top speed would be about 2/3 of a protected cruiser. The rams, the monitors and some Naval Gunfire Support Ships would almost have to be in combat by themselves. They have few guns, are slow and likely handle a bit clumsily. I'm not very likely to build a triplane rudder on a ship should the Steampunk flotilla ever get going, but I would like you to expand on your reasons for saying such a rudder would be against the rules. I have no idea, but drag might offset any turning leverage advantage, and Steampunk ships ARE supposed to be a bit fanciful.
Rules without ships or events? I guess then you don't need to worry about building or battling getting in the way of a good rules argument. Carry on!
The intent of SP is to keep all ships the same under the water line. Above the waterline is where you can be fanciful.
