HMS "Duchy" Class

[proditor]

No 5.25" secondaries available?

I didn't think so, but I found a PoW weaponry sprue, so I'm in the process of making mounts. 

[tigercat]

Knightwing crates, barrels and sacks might give you some turret rings.

[proditor]

So yeah, this is a thing again. 

Pics by the weekend. Most of the primary paint is done, just have to highlight the details and get the ship's boats in place.

[proditor]

Well, it only took two years, but it's done. 

In 1925 the Royal Navy was trying to figure out how to answer the future threat of a rearming Germany. Designed as a half measure against the possible failure of the KGV class, the Duchy was intended as a compliment and possible replacement for the excellent Queen Elizabeth battleships. Upgrading the ships to a more modern standard was proving costly, and a new design ship would be able to incorporate all of the new ideas and research into a younger hull with longer life.

Built as beamy ships on a smaller hull than the KGV, the Duchy would have a smaller power plant, but one that would still allow it to marginally outpace the QE battlewagons. Sticking strictly to the same terms as the KGV design, the Duchy would mount 8 - 14" cannons in two quadruple turrets. While seen as a risky investment in terms of location, it allowed the Royal Navy to use these faster building battleships as testing grounds for innovations in the newer and more powerful KGV. As the threat of war loomed ever closer, the efforts and resources of the Royal Navy shifted to convoys escorts and "Real" battleships like the KGV. Curtailed at two hulls; the Duke of Wellington and the Duke of Westminster (Known as "Wellie and Westie" among the fleet) they went into service as the war started, and almost immediately, some of the very design elements that had gone into the planning for these ships came to bear fruit.

Ordered into a hunting group with the Exeter and Ajax, the Duke of Wellington was in the right place at the right time to confront the infamous German surface raider the Graf Spee. The ensuing Battle of the River Platte, was decisive and one sided. The cruisers acted to herd the German pocket battleship, and the Duke of Weillington dismantled it in short order. While the German raider did manage to score some telling hits in return, the heavier armor and the speed advantage of the Duchy won through.

Not even the lucky 11" shot that took out the front gun director was able to stop the Wellie for long, and soon the rear 14" turret was raining down accurate fire as the ship turned away to make temporary repairs. In the end, the 14" shells of the Wellie proved devastating to the Spee, and she sank out well outside of  Montevideo harbor as she began a last dash to safety.

Back in England, this staggering and mostly one-sided victory provided a strong boost to morale. In Germany, it led to Hitler's first recriminations about the surface fleet as he ordered Doenitz to step up U-boat production.

Final Armament (1944 fit)
8 × BL 14 in (360 mm) Mark VII guns
4 × QF 4.7 inch (120mm) anti-aircraft guns (4 × 1)
32 × QF 2-pdr AA (4 octuple mounts)
28 × 40 mm AA (7 × 4)

[Joe C-P]

Nice work! Great background. 

[PR19_Kit]

That looks pretty darned awesome, and I know NOTHING about ship plastic modelling. 

Nice twist on the Battle of the River Plate too.

[Weaver]

Nice one - the paint looks really good: 'tired' enough to be believable, but not over-weathered.

I like the story too: that scenario is exactly what Langsdorf was worried about of course, which explains his tentative engagment with the British cruisers.

[Old Wombat]

Nice looking ship!

[zenrat]

Oh that is good.
Love what you did with the deck.

[proditor]

Thanks guys! The paint is part plan, part lucky happenstance. For the grey, I painted it, well, grey, and then hit it up with some ink. After that settled, just siome dry brushing to leave the ink shadows in places I wanted them, or some small touch-ups if it was too much.

The wood decking is like, 4 different colors. I started with sand, then inked it, but that was way too dark and drastic, so dry brushed some more sand, but that didn't get me the highlights I wanted, so then I mixed some sand and white, and now it's too light...

So more ink, then back to the sand/white mix, and then I let it all dry and looked at it the next day and went "Huh, I actually really like that" and I declared victory. 

[zenrat]

Is it correct that due to the bridge configuration restricting the helmsman's visibility, Fleet standing orders were that these ships were only to be overtaken to port?
The Pass the Duchy on the left hand side rule...

[Captain Canada]

Great job on this one ! Love the details and the weathering...great stuff !

[Old Wombat]

Is it correct that due to the bridge configuration restricting the helmsman's visibility, Fleet standing orders were that these ships were only to be overtaken to port?
The Pass the Duchy on the left hand side rule...

Oh, my giddy aunt!

(As my dear ol' mum used to say many moons ago.)

[NARSES2]

Is it correct that due to the bridge configuration restricting the helmsman's visibility, Fleet standing orders were that these ships were only to be overtaken to port?
The Pass the Duchy on the left hand side rule...

Oh, my giddy aunt!

(As my dear ol' mum used to say many moons ago.)

Yup it's been duly noted 

Fantastic work Proditor