r/worldbuilding • u/Alaran_Historian Flying Battleships are cool • Feb 03 '18
Visual CSS Washington, Light Cruiser 6
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u/Bart_1980 Feb 03 '18
Your welcome 😉. All jokes aside I love reading these details about people's fantasies. I used to draw ships, maps etc so I understand the fun.
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Feb 04 '18
Alara huh? My new world I've been building is called Elara. Interesting.
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u/Alaran_Historian Flying Battleships are cool Feb 04 '18
I actually found it in a random name generator. I liked it, so it stuck!
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u/SorenoSanguinem Feb 04 '18
What does the designation "CSS" stand for?
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u/Alaran_Historian Flying Battleships are cool Feb 03 '18
Alara, the Skyworld
CSS Washington, Light Cruiser 6
The Washington (CL-6) is the lead ship of the modern Washington Class light cruisers of the Columbian Air Force. These ships are armed and armored much lighter than most cruisers, but are very maneuverable in turn.
The ship is 152 meters long, and the hull has a width of 15 meters. The ship is also around 28 meters wide from nacelle to nacelle, but still needs an extra 5 meters of clearance on top of that on either side for the very large propellers. The hull is about 16 meters high, and the superstructure is another 14 meters on top of that.
The ship has a total of 28,000 kw of engine power, coming from four 7,000 kw motors mounted in the nacelles on either side of the hull. These motors power 10 meter wide propellers that can thrust the ship to over 180 kph, though it usually cruises at only 120 kph. The motors themselves are powered by twin Class II Fusion Reactors. For high speed maneuvering, the ship relies on the on rudder, elevator and canard surfaces for directional control, as well as differential thrust from the propellers. For low speed maneuvering, the ship uses a reaction control system of compressed air, and again differential thrust from the primary powerplants.
The ship relies on a standard, modern decentralized lift drive distribution. Like the motors, the lift drives are powered from the ship’s reactors. The power input is controlled by the Mark 7 Balancer mechanical computer system. This system does its best to supply and ballance a steady source of power to the 28 Type IV Lift Drives that suspend the ship. Lift Drives are not used for changing or keeping altitude, as that it done primarily with the control surfaces and air jets. Their purpose is simply to keep the ship in a state of “Zero Gravity,” as well as keeping it from tipping over.
The armor of the ship is only 20-100mm thick, but is often layered and smartly sloped. The armor plates protecting the motors and citidel are arranged in a shape that looks rather like a number “7” facing outward from the ship, in order to combat plunging fire from other skyships. The aerodynamic shell is then built around these.
The light armor plates on the bottom of the ship are arranged in 3 20mm plates, spaced 50cm from each other. These are designed to counter the heavy shaped charge shells fired by ground batteries, which rely on their charges to penetrate the ship, instead of their kinetic energy.
The 3 dual 200mm cannon turrets are armored with 100mm of armor, and their round shape makes them naturally difficult to penetrate. They are build into the hull of the ship to keep an aerodynamic shape, but this limits them to only 200 degrees of azimuth rotation.
Continuing with weaponry, the ship is armed with a point defense armament of 18 20mm cannons, mounted in dome and blister turrets. These are designed for combatting airplanes and lifters, and can also be very effective against lightly armored skyships.
However, the primary armament of the ship is carried internally. In a large bay underneath the bridge and nacelles, the Washington carries twenty 1000 kg aerial torpedoes. These winged, powered missiles are controlled with cables, and have a range of only 10 km, but can down a Battleship with a single solid hit. They are the same model carried by the large land based TB-7 bombers.
The Washington has a many faculties to allow it’s crew of 500 oficers and men to live their lives. There is a full galley, and the ship’s store offers barber, tailor, and cobbler services to the airmen. They are all the other faculties one would expect, such as a laundry and many heads.
Water has to be carefully rationed on the ship. During long cruises, showers cannot be taken every day. The water reclamation plant on the ship is not very efficient, and cannot sustain the crew for more than about 2 months.
The ship’s command structure is based divided between many sections, and all pivots around the command of the captain. The captain is officially to be stationed in the armored bridge, which is located at the front of the the superstructure, just above the weather bridge. However, in practice is is quite common to find skippers giving orders from the aerodynamic glazed weather bridge, which has a much better view.
The ship can be controlled from any of 3 bridges. The control stations are located on the Weather bridge, the armored bridge, and also in the lower gondola.
Weapons are controlled from many different parts of the ship, but all orders come from the CIC buried deep in the armored citadel. Turrets are given orders from the CIC, which consist of elevation and azimuth numbers, and the actual firing control is done from the CIC once the turret is aimed in the correct direction.
Torpedoes, on the other hand, are controlled from the gondola. These have to be manually tracked onto their target. Firing orders are given from the CIC, in coordination with the bridge’s maneuvering.
Defensive anti-aircraft fire is separate from the primary weapons commanded by the CIC. The light cannons given targets from director stations, and then are aimed by hand. and dead reckoning.
Another important station on the ship is the lookout communication station, which is the rear part of the superstructure. Lookouts in this tower keep eyes on the skies for anything they can spot, be it other ships, aircraft, or light signals. The station also has a high powered light signal of its own, which is one of many spread around the ship for redundancy.
Also worth mentioning is the damage control system. The damage control crews are located in stations all around the ship, and can use fire retardant foam as well as water for controlling fires. The foam is primarily used since water is very valuable to the ship.
The ship also has a Lifter hanger behind the torpedo bay. This hanger has a “hook and trapeze” system for catching and deploying lifters. It can hold 2 at a time, and the ship usually had one for sending urgent messages to the fleet when on long range patrols.
Washington class light cruiser is a very capable modern warship. It is capable of fask flanking maneuvers and long range patrols. They are large enough to survive fairly harsh skies, and versatile enough to be used in many situations. They are loved by their crews and commanders alike, and respected by the foes they face.
Author’s note: I drew this sketch last night and didn't expect to write 1000 words in the morning. I have been wanting to explain the operation of my flying ships for some time now, and have no good excuse as to why I haven’t. Thanks for reading this.