Aircraft carriers also suffer from any wind, they become very difficult to control. And no Tuggy, I am not talking about Mexican variety (of wind). What The Geek, McSpuds, and Tuggy said +1. Your goal should be to get on the water the easiest method possible, so you can attend a battle and have fun. Look over all the other boats and ASK questions! Captains will tell you all about their boats and what they like and don't like. We are a very fun group and we want more boats on the water.
Start Allied or French. You can always join the Hochseeflotte later. Also, look at who you are most likely to play with. Around you I believe is mostly fast-gun in which carriers are of little utility. Build your first ship as a proper surface combatant. Like the others said, a class 4 or 5 dreadnought / super dreadnought / battleship is a solid choice. A common class 5 Allied choice is the Queen Elizabeth class, there are several build threads here for them if you want to get an idea on them.
Another option is to build a neutral country's ship. That way you can join an Allied or Axis fleet. I built a Spanish battleship (Espana) and a Spanish heavy cruiser (Canarias) and had a great time battling on different sides. I made hull molds for both ships and sold them to Strike Models.
Colorado class hull was almost identical. Different guns & turrets, but from main deck downward they were (as built) the same as the Tennessee's. BattlersConnection.com has plans & hull for Colorado that would be pretty simple to alter to Tennessee.
I'd pick an Indefatigable, just a tad longer than an Invincible so essentially the same handling characteristics and weaponry but a couple of pounds more displacement. Ralph Coles and I collaborated on a fibreglass Indefatigable Class hull several years ago. He has the mold and a few hulls in stock. I may build one for IRCWCC Nats in 2016.
Franks i400 is fantastic, it performed very well at the MWC nationals in Oakboro, NC a couple of years ago.
Well it preformed well as a sub, and was able to deliver its ammo into a unwilling recipient, so I'd say it worked well as a warship too. Frank has refined it since the 2012 Nats.
I'd disagree, it was awesome as a sub but rather ineffective as a warship. (As most single gun ships are) So true to history...sub's aren't known for their surface combat abilities. Still it was the coolest ship I've probably ever seen in the hobby, the scale PT boat is pretty close.
it worked, but looked like a maintenance nightmare. Had to disassemble it to change out C02, there was always some leakage. Don't get me wrong, Frank proved it could be done and it was super-cool. In my own personal opinion, just not worth the trade off in time and money. It is defiantly one of those things that look great on paper/computer, but when you see an actual battle it has very little to do with combat.
Yup. a PT boat in 1/144 scale. A little over 6" long. It used artificial-heart motors for drive. This was in 2002 or 2003. He probably spent around a grand building an RC boat that couldn't mount a gun. He was driving it around, challenging people to try and hit it. Guy with a Yamato fired triple-sterns at it. The bb's missed high, but the jet of gas flipped the PT over
