Naval Projects

'Mighty Armadas' warships, merchants and 
a seaport.

Reading about a lot of interesting naval projects, and reviewing a couple of my own, has induced me to thinking about putting some 'finish' to my own efforts. In particular, I've been thinking about two projects that have occasionally featured in this blog, both relating to the naval adjunct to my long neglected 'Jono's World' Army Men project. One of these involved my small collection of 'Mighty Armadas' toy ships, the other my home made, scratch-built, balsa navies.

A Saabian task force of cruiser, aircraft carrier
and battleship under attack from Ra'esharn 
carrier aircraft.

Balsa Navies:

I think today we'll talk about the teeny-tiny balsa navies. This idea began 40-odd years ago when thinking to devise a game not so very dissimilar to the Milton Bradley Axis and Allies board game that came out later. For many years this project lay dormant until one Jono turns up at the club with a fascinating project of his own. Though it began a rather on-occasionally/off-most-of-the-time Army Men project, it was the naval side of his conception that intrigued me most.

My adaptation of Jono's original map. Saabia (my
spelling, I discover) lies to the east of the island 
empire of Ra'esharn. Omez is an 'ally' - more
like a vassal - of Ra'esharn

Now, I could have bought a whole bunch of model warships of roughly the size that I was beginning to have in mind.  In fact I still have some I 1:4800(?) scale WW2 vessels. But I never really liked them much. However I might admire the model vessels of this scale, I find my 'toys' a whole lot more engaging. The tiny metal models look characterless somehow.

Classes and Sizes:

Right from the start, there was to be a limited number of classes:

• Fleet Aircraft Carriers
• Battleships
• Cruisers (all one class)
• Destroyers
• Submarines
• Unarmed Merchants
• Landing craft

All vessels within a particular class would be identical. There developed, however, a single exception. 

The small Kiivar Navy. Carrier 01, KNS Condor
is the largest of the class of fleet carriers. The more 
colourful vessels belong to the navy of the  Saabian 
Archipelago.

Fleet Carriers:

The flight decks are 60mm long by 20mm. The bridge tower slightly projects from the starboard side. 
Each vessel carries 4 'flights' of aircraft (of which, more later). At the moment I am undecided whether to divide the aircraft into fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers (ratio 1:2:1) or just make them simply 'aircraft'. 

Ra'esharn fleet carrier and battleship. The ruler shows 
the sizes of the 'models'/'toys'.

Discovering an wooden offcut of suitable dimensions, but slightly larger than the standard size, the depleted Kiivar Navy received it as its sole carrier, KNS Condor, carrying 5 - possibly 6 - flights. Apart from the added carrying capacity, it rates the same as the other fleet carriers.

Battleships:

These were to 60mm long by 15mm beam. Their 9 main guns are housed in triple-gun turrets, 'A', 'B' and 'Y'. Secondary armament is not depicted in this scale, but is assumed to comprise 12 guns similar in calibre to the cruisers' main batteries.

Ra'esharn 1st Battle Squadron, Admiral 
Hideo Sokituya commanding.

Battlecruisers:

You will observe this was not originally one of the range of classes. I never did build two of the six battleships the Saabian Navy was supposed to have. But just on a week ago, unearthing a couple of interesting balsa offcuts seemed to suggest they could almost supply their place. They were just a little bit smaller than the standard battleships.

Battlecruiser SNS Scylla

As the idea had already long ago crossed my mind anyhow, battlecruisers they became: SNS Scylla and SNS Charybdis. The design is markedly different from the other battleships, and much influenced by Japanese naval architecture of the 1930s and '40s. 

Had I thought more about them, I would probably have opted for twin turrets instead of triples - basically a battleship with reduced primary armament. However triple turrets they got, and, instead of 24 Flotation Points for battleships, they will probably get 18FP. In all other respects, except speed, they are the same as the battleships. 

It might be interesting to see how one of them fares against three Ra'esharn cruisers.

Cruisers:

These were never going to be more than the one class, and probably more cognate to the light cruiser at that. These craft have 3 twin turrets - four being rather impractical in my ship designs. Their primary armament is similar to the battleships' secondaries. The cruisers' secondary armament comprises calibres used by the destroyers.

Ra'esharn Cruiser Fleet.

Cruisers will also carry torpedoes. Possibly the larger vessels should get them too, but I'm disinclined to give them any. 

A Saabian Task Force at sea: Battleship, Carrier,
Cruiser flanked by 2 Destroyers.

Destroyers:

All destroyers are the same, not much in the way of guns, but with torpedoes (4 launchers to the cruisers' 2) and the primary submarine hunters. With just 2 single gun turrets on my models, they are not meant to take on larger craft unless they can get in really close. Possibly a flotilla of three could take on a cruiser.

Submarines:

This part of the project is still in its early stages. The 'figure' design involves thin card for the hull (so that surface vessels in the same grid area can be placed atop them) with a small conning tower to give a certain three-dimensionality. I am not planning large submarine fleets - maybe just 3 or 4 per navy. 

Merchants:

I've made 10 of these. They are generic only, and might serve in any navy. If ever I make a game board large enough for the whole war by land and sea (yeah, right: that's gonna happen!) then probably the merchant fleet will get expanded ... maybe to 15 or 18 vessels. You need merchant ships for convoy actions!

Landing Craft:

I have made a few tiny examples (8 so far) based on the Higgins boats design. These are about 20mm long by 5mm wide ( a couple are slightly larger). Of course, we'll have to 'do' a 'Battle of the Coral Sea' action, as well as some of the Guadalcanal naval clashes. Like the Merchants, they will be generic. It is unlikely to find enemies trying to land on the same beaches!

Aircraft mounts. The aircraft are simple 3-piece 
designs cut from beer mat or similar. The wing span 
is about 10-12mm.

Aircraft: 

These will be mounted on stands of 3 aircraft, each stand representing a 'flight' in my parlance, but more cognate to a squadron. Except for KNS Condor, each carrier will house 4 'flights' - 1 fighter, 2 (dive)-bomber, 1 torpedo bomber. Condor will have 2 flights of each type. So far, that is assuming that the aircraft will be so divided. It may be simpler just to call all aircraft the same. In the above pic, the defending aircraft (white) might eliminate, or at least neutralise, two of the attacking 'flights', leaving four to carry out their attacks - if they survive the ship-borne AA...

The stands so far mount cardboard (actually, beer mat) aircraft glued to roughly oval clear plastic surfaces. These are mounted upon cotton bud tubes held up by bent paper clips. I recently bought from the local Two-Dollar shop some flat wooden necklace beads which I'm hoping will provide a more stable platform. 

The Surface Navies: 

Kiivar (the Good Guys):

1 large Fleet Carrier
- 6 aircraft  'flights' 
2 Battleships
3 Cruisers
6 Destroyers (K41-K46)

Surprise 'Pearl Harbour' type attacks destroyed much of the Kiivar surface fleet, leaving behind a single task force. This, of course, provides some useful play-test back history...

Saabia (the Ally):

3 Fleet Carriers
- 12 aircraft 'flights'
4 Battleships
2 Battlecruisers
8 Cruisers
12 Destroyers (S1-3, S14-16, S27-29, S31-33)

Ra'esharn (the Enemy):

4 Fleet Carriers
- 16 aircraft 'flights'
8 Battleships
10 Cruisers
16 Destroyers (R11-14, R25-28, R31-34, R45-48)

All these vessels have been built, two battlecruisers and eight destroyers this last week, the rest more than 10 years ago. I've yet to make Kiivar's K46.

At any rate, here's the whole box:

The three navies: Kiivar (top left), Saabia and the Black Ra'esharn.
Merchants and Higgins boats at top right. The sole aircraft you see is from
a model of HMS Ark Royal. Not sure where the others are. 

To be continued:
Towards a rule set, and ship 'stats'.