Soviet Super Yamato

[ysi_maniac]

Her dimensions are similar to current USS Enterprise, so she would manoeuvre the same.

Anyway, I am currently thinking in something like this http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/yokozu_f.htm  

[pyro-manic]

At half a million tonnes? I very much doubt that somehow - Enterprise is less than a fifth of that IIRC. The only ships that size were the enormous oil tankers like the Jahre Viking/Knock Nevis and the Batillus-class, all of which were too big to navigate the English Channel, and other similar areas.

[ysi_maniac]

At half a million tonnes?

I did not give that figure.

[pyro-manic]

Right, I think some wires got crossed somewhere. I was commenting on the "Zipang" design linked to by Rickshaw. Your stretched Yamato design is more reasonable, if a little unwieldy.

[ysi_maniac]

WOW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawise_Giant

[pyro-manic]

Yep. Absolute monster is the only way to describe her.

Good photos here: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id23.htm

Batillus-class Pierre Guillaumat: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id38.htm
Pics showing the Prairal (another Batillus) being beached for scrapping at the bottom here: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id58.htm

See how deep she'd be at full load!

[Jschmus]

How about, "Commander Kaneda's gigantic Japanese 500,000 ton dreadnought design approximately 1914/1920."?  Named, "Zipang".   Page includes a ship bucket drawing of what it might have looked like.

The other day I commented on the original blog posting, asking what this monster was supposed to be armed with, they responded with the following:

Armament:
100 - 16.14" / 410 mm 45.0 cal guns - 2,120.84lbs / 962.00kg shells, 200 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts
14 x Twin mounts on centreline, evenly spread
12 raised mounts
36 x Single mounts on sides amidships
2 raised mounts
200 - 5.51" / 140 mm 50.0 cal guns - 88.63lbs / 40.20kg shells, 400 per gun
Breech loading guns in casemate mount
158 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
44 raised mounts
114 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
42 x Single mounts on sides amidships
42 double raised mounts
100 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm 40.0 cal guns - 12.94lbs / 5.87kg shells, 150 per gun
Anti-air guns in deck mounts
88 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
60 raised mounts
12 x Single mounts on sides amidships
12 double raised mounts
Weight of broadside 231,104 lbs / 231,104 kg
100 - 24.0" / 610 mm above water torpedoes

Sounds as ridiculous as it looks.

[rickshaw]

Yep. Absolute monster is the only way to describe her.

Good photos here: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id23.htm

Batillus-class Pierre Guillaumat: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id38.htm
Pics showing the Prairal (another Batillus) being beached for scrapping at the bottom here: http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/id58.htm

See how deep she'd be at full load!

That is approaching Habbakuk size!   

Now, all you'd need to do is put a runway on it...

[P1127]

I've read that book - it's called Iron Man. Basically a bunch of disaffected Soviet naval officers are contacted by a shady group of criminals, and they take the battleship (Stalin, 75,000 tonnes, two feet of armour and nine 22" guns!) and go pirating with it. It culminates when they hold up an American light cruiser and steal it's complement of nuclear depth charges (destined for Saddam Hussein to fit to his Scud missiles). Iowa and Missouri are re-activated and sent after Stalin in the south Pacific, who sinks Missouri before Iowa cripples her. The noble Soviet captain abandons ship with his crew, just before one of the gang members accidentally detonates one of the nuclear weapons. It was fairly entertaining as a teenager, but I read it again a few years ago and it's really not very good. Never mind the daft concepts involved, the writing is pretty poor as well.

Author was JOhn Watson, his follow up was called' The Final Act' and had a frozen Bismark class attacking Washington - here's the blurb:

In April 1945, as allied bombs reduced Hamburg to rubble, Otto Heine is press-ganged into the German navy & finds himself aboard the battleship Hindenberg, under orders to sail to America in one of the Reich's last attempts to reclaim the upper hand in the war. Captain Erich Bach & most of his crew believe their mission is to shell Washington but another officer & Otto know that many of the shells on board are dummies full of gold. When Hitler commits suicide there is mutiny & Otto thinks he can beach the ship in Greenland & escape with the treasure. But the elements, lack of seamanship & shortage of fuel means only he gets away with his life, leaving the ship & its secrets in the ice. Now, 55 years later, an entrepreneur is determined to free the great battleship & turn it into a floating theme park. This news spurs Otto into action, believing he can at last lay hands on the gold, & it brings out the German government's lawyers who believe the ship is rightly theirs. Unknown to anyone else it also propels another player into the frame: Erich Bach's grandson, who is determined to fulfil his grandfather's last orders - to shell Washington.

[lenny100]

How about, "Commander Kaneda's gigantic Japanese 500,000 ton dreadnought design approximately 1914/1920."?  Named, "Zipang".   Page includes a ship bucket drawing of what it might have looked like.

The other day I commented on the original blog posting, asking what this monster was supposed to be armed with, they responded with the following:

Armament:
100 - 16.14" / 410 mm 45.0 cal guns - 2,120.84lbs / 962.00kg shells, 200 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts
14 x Twin mounts on centreline, evenly spread
12 raised mounts
36 x Single mounts on sides amidships
2 raised mounts
200 - 5.51" / 140 mm 50.0 cal guns - 88.63lbs / 40.20kg shells, 400 per gun
Breech loading guns in casemate mount
158 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
44 raised mounts
114 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
42 x Single mounts on sides amidships
42 double raised mounts
100 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm 40.0 cal guns - 12.94lbs / 5.87kg shells, 150 per gun
Anti-air guns in deck mounts
88 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
60 raised mounts
12 x Single mounts on sides amidships
12 double raised mounts
Weight of broadside 231,104 lbs / 231,104 kg
100 - 24.0" / 610 mm above water torpedoes

ok so were does the crew live as it would need something like a gun crew of 75 per 16" gun turret and 30 per 5"
then there the other gun with a crew of around 10 each, thats before all the other shipboard needs are meet, around a crew of 30 thousand would be needed and thats before to look at the needs of the wepons and stowage of shells etc.

[Taiidantomcat]

Going to need one hell of a galley 

[Cliffy B]

What about propulsion and fuel?!  That thing would have the top speed of a glacier with all of those guns, ordnance, and crew 

[Joe C-P]

I've read that book - it's called Iron Man. Basically a bunch of disaffected Soviet naval officers are contacted by a shady group of criminals, and they take the battleship (Stalin, 75,000 tonnes, two feet of armour and nine 22" guns!) and go pirating with it. It culminates when they hold up an American light cruiser and steal it's complement of nuclear depth charges (destined for Saddam Hussein to fit to his Scud missiles). Iowa and Missouri are re-activated and sent after Stalin in the south Pacific, who sinks Missouri before Iowa cripples her. The noble Soviet captain abandons ship with his crew, just before one of the gang members accidentally detonates one of the nuclear weapons. It was fairly entertaining as a teenager, but I read it again a few years ago and it's really not very good. Never mind the daft concepts involved, the writing is pretty poor as well.

Author was JOhn Watson, his follow up was called' The Final Act' and had a frozen Bismark class attacking Washington - here's the blurb:

In April 1945, as allied bombs reduced Hamburg to rubble, Otto Heine is press-ganged into the German navy & finds himself aboard the battleship Hindenberg, under orders to sail to America in one of the Reich's last attempts to reclaim the upper hand in the war. Captain Erich Bach & most of his crew believe their mission is to shell Washington but another officer & Otto know that many of the shells on board are dummies full of gold. When Hitler commits suicide there is mutiny & Otto thinks he can beach the ship in Greenland & escape with the treasure. But the elements, lack of seamanship & shortage of fuel means only he gets away with his life, leaving the ship & its secrets in the ice. Now, 55 years later, an entrepreneur is determined to free the great battleship & turn it into a floating theme park. This news spurs Otto into action, believing he can at last lay hands on the gold, & it brings out the German government's lawyers who believe the ship is rightly theirs. Unknown to anyone else it also propels another player into the frame: Erich Bach's grandson, who is determined to fulfil his grandfather's last orders - to shell Washington.

Sigh.
Armour, 2 feet thick or not, isn't going to stop modern anti-ship torpedoes. One or two modern SSNs would have ended the career of the Stalin.
As for bombarding Washington, D.C., using a WW2 battleship, go find a map of that region of the US and see how far inland the US capitol lies.

[rickshaw]

As for bombarding Washington, D.C., using a WW2 battleship, go find a map of that region of the US and see how far inland the US capitol lies.

Didn't stop one nation who then proceeded to make a landing and burnt the Whitehouse... 

[Nick]

Sigh.
Armour, 2 feet thick or not, isn't going to stop modern anti-ship torpedoes. One or two modern SSNs would have ended the career of the Stalin.
As for bombarding Washington, D.C., using a WW2 battleship, go find a map of that region of the US and see how far inland the US capitol lies.

SPOILER WARNING

I suggest that if you haven't, you should read the books for a firsthand view before making judgements.
The Stalin designer apparently created a large anti-torpedo bulge to absorb the attacks. I think the torpedos of WW2 were intended to be contact hits with several tons of explosive, todays torpedos are less powerful but designed to pierce a thin skinned destroyer or frigate and most likely by breaking the hull from underneath. The 2+ feet of overhead armour works rather well against the lightweight missiles of today which is why the Iowa and Missouri get called in.
Why are there no SSNs in the neighbourhood? Put that down to authors poetic licence. We've seen worse from other What-If writers!
The German battleship opens fire from the Potomac. How deep and wide is the Potomac from the sea to Washington DC? Is the draft shallow enough?