W.I.N.T.E.R's Makings Thread

Hmm... Could it be a ship? What do I win if I guessed right?

Hmmm definatelya battlewagon, looks like it might have a "pagoada" superstructure. If so an early WWII Japanese BB.

So far so good:

A) Yes, it is a ship
B) Yes, a battlewagon

The graphics reminds me the Moltke class heavy cruiser of the Navy Field game, Could be that?

Aparently more civ forum people than I thought play Navy Field these days... Indeed it is the ship from the game, but it is not a "Moltke" class. Team Navy Field actualy got it wrong...

Sooo, you are very close- Just need the actual ship ID now (hint: It was an actual WWI ship considered for post-war refit)

Hmmm, second attempt :

1º: the hull and main guns distribution reminds me the last german battlecruisers designs of WW1 (Derfflinger, Mackensen and Ersatz Yorck classes)

2º: But it only have one funnel, so probably it is the last option:


Ersatz Yorck class

I hope that this time I guess right

I think it would be mean were I to tell you to keep looking, since you already got that close twice in a row. So here goes:

Bayern Class (1916)
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"The Bayern class were the last German battleships of the Hochseeflotte, only two of the four ships were completed during World War I. Construction started after a huge discussion about the main artillery for those ships ranging from 35,6 to 40 cm. The final design included eight 38 cm guns, the same size choosen for the newest British battleships (Queen Elizabeth class) although this was unknown at that time.

The general construction was based on the previous battleship class, the König class, and again it was planed to add a diesel engine to the ship to enhance their endurance. Since the problems of building powerful diesel engines were known from the previous battleships, only the last two ships of the Bayern class were planed to include the diesel engine, enabling them to operate ot only n the North Sea, but also in the North Atlantic.



Those ships are often seen as "unofficial" predecessors of the Bismarck class battleships of the Kriegsmarine and are best compared to the British Revenge class.

Bayern and Baden were commissioned during wartime, but both ships came too late for the battle of Jutland and did not see many actions during the war. Both were scuttled at Scapa Flow, and Baden was one of the few ships which could be saved before sinking and was sunk as a target ship in 1921. Construction of the Sachsen was stopped about 9 months before completion and was broken down in 1921. Würtemberg was 12 months away from completion when construction was stopped. The ship was also broken down in 1921."

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Bayern Class Proposed Refit (1936)


This unit is based on the idea of what would have been, had the German post-war Government bought back the Baden from Britain for scrap value -yet in reality only in order to secretly, little-by-little modernize the vessel until the mid-1930s. Similarly, Germany's interwar governments could have fooled the victorious Allies instead of having broken down the sister ships Sachsen and Würtemberg as accorded. After all, the successive governments really did repeatedly undermine the Versailles treaty by conducting research in the fields of avionics, tank development (with the aid of Soviet Russia), by slowing reparation payments, and declaring large parts of army personel as "Free Corps" Militia (so as to maintain the total size of the army within the dictated upper limit of 100.000).

Or perhaps the initial intentions were even genuine while there was just no funding for the scrapping due to the harshness of the economic depression and dire monetary situation the state was in- one way or the other the hulls remained. In any way- who would notice a few old ship hulls tucked away in a mid-sized Prussian wharf... What matters is that this way, by the outbreak of WWII, the by then German dictatorship would hence have had 3 small but powerfull battleship refits at its disposal, harbored and modernized in secret, and enough to challenge the British post-war refits of the Queen Elizabeth class with its artillery of 381mm.

Edit: So that means Kingfisher will get this one once its done exclusively before everyone else

Bayern Class Würtemberg in construction, post WWI (far left against the Freya at dock). At the other side of the dock there is another vessel- looks like another Battleship, though its hard to tell if that would be the Sachsen.

Interesting facts about the ships of the Class:
- Baden was not originally intended to be surrendered under the terms of the Armistice, but was substituted for the battlecruiser Mackensen, which lay incomplete and could not put to sea. She was sunk as target ship in 1921.

- Bayern was scuttled in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919, and in September 1934 was raised by the salvage firm Metal Industries of Charlestown and scrapped. Her four main turrets detached from the hull during the salvage operation and remain at the bottom of Scapa Flow.

- Würtemberg was launched 20 June 1917, the ship was about a year away from completion when construction was halted, and ultimately the incomplete vessel was not profiled to be scrapped until 1921.

- Sachsen was launched on 21 November 1916. However, construction was never completed, and the ship never joined the first two vessels in service. Ultimately, Sachsen was scrapped at its pier in 1922. Official sources however already date the scrapping to have been carried out earlier, in 1921.

[Between the end of the war (1918) and the documentations of breaking down (1921, 1922, 1934, respectively) there would have been plenty of oportunities for a cover up]

Last picture of Würtemberg, mere months b4 completion.

Argh! I was nearly!

Now I remeber that design. It was shown in the Warships Projects Index Forum two year ago, but I didn´t know that the developers of Navy Field taken it for the game. It is only hypothetical but show very realistic how this battleships could be refited.

Anyway, an excelent election for a unit. I will like it .

PD: If I was the german post-WW1 goverment, I had tried to hide the Mackensens or Ersatz Yorcks instead the Badens. They was faster, decently armoured, well armed and had more space for install new equipment.

A hypothetical refit for the Mackensen class. The Ersatz Yorck class refit would be very similar:



And the "What If" carrier conversion of these battlecruisers:



Anyway, the possession of the three battleships of Baden class would have changed the strategy of the Kriegsmarine in a very interesting way.

Regards, Kingfisher

Wow love the animation on the turrent's!

Those turrets look so cool!

Nice ship!!! I can't wait to have them!

Adler

Thank you winter for doing this very interesting ship. Is there any chance to see the "WW1-father" (the original Bayern-class), too?

Very nice work, Herr Admiral. Is that ship made by C&P? Impressive!

Thank you, guys.

@Civnator: I'd say, rather unlikely at this point in time- I'd need something to work on.
@Ares: It is C&P. But I am hoping Wyrmshadow will be able to help by animating shells and a wake. The death anim will be the biggest problem though. Will c...

Hmm, I would have thought it to be one of the Graf Spee-class armoured cruisers. But a modernized Bayern? That certainly threw me off.

Nice work. Should fit in rather nicely to my battlefleet.

Also in the makes... from top down: Junyo Class, Soryu & Unryu Class

Make like McDonalds, cuz I'm lovin it.

Excellent IJN carriers; a fleet that has a lot of potential for expansion.