Author Topic: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories  (Read 5925 times)

Offline Cliffy B

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Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« on: April 01, 2015, 11:36:23 PM »
Post your finished profiles/stories here.
"Radials growl, inlines purr, jets blow!"  -Anonymous

"Helos don't fly.  They vibrate so violently that the ground rejects them."  -Tom Clancy

"If all else fails, call in an air strike."  -Anonymous

Offline Acree

  • That will teach you to frustrate the powers that be...won't it comrade?
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Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2015, 07:55:00 AM »
Curtiss-Wright CW-21C floatplane versions of the Interceptor. 
In Ecuadoran and Netherlands East Indies' service...

Offline Acree

  • That will teach you to frustrate the powers that be...won't it comrade?
  • Sentenced to time in the BTS Gulag...
Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2015, 07:57:31 AM »
In the Spring of 1940, the Imperial Japanese Navy took advantage of their efforts at fostering relations with Peru to deploy a detachment of two H6K2 long-range reconnaissance flying boats to Peru.  The purpose of this detachment was to reconnoiter the Panama Canal, and ultimately to set up surveillance of the Canal and its approaches, for the primary purpose of tracking US Navy ships transiting.  A secondary task, not disclosed to their Peruvian hosts, was to gather intelligence for a possible attack on the Canal by Japanese carrier based aircraft and/or surface vessels.  The Peruvians, of course, depended greatly on the Canal for international commerce, especially with Europe and the US eastern seaboard, and would not have approved of any plan to attack and disable the Canal.  A final consideration was to determine the feasibility of interdicting US merchant or naval traffic from Peru using a larger force of long range aircraft from Peru (at and following an expected outbreak of hostilities between the US and Japan).

In June, 1940, two H6K2s commanded by Commander Masaharu Soto, arrived in Peru, following the ground element which had arrived in May aboard the Shigeno Maru along with six disassembled Mitsubishi C5M2 reconnaissance aircraft for the Fuerza Aerea Peruana.  The H6K2s were to be home-based at Ancón, the primary Fuerza Aerea Peruana seaplane base.  However, a small forward element was set up Puerto Pizarro.  H6Ks would fly from Ancón to Puerto Pizarro, refuel, take on a fresh crew and then depart for the 900 mile journey to the Canal, where they were able to remain on station for approximately eight hours before returning to Puerto Pizarro.

On most missions, a Fuerza Aerea Peruana representative joined the crew, though this was not always the case.  The H6Ks arrived in standard Japanese Navy markings, but the hinomarus were over-painted with Peruvian roundels before their first flights from Peru.

Detachment Soto's small force of H6K2s gathered a tremendous amount of intel for the Japanese Navy.  From the commencement of operations in July 1940 until February 1942, the operation remained unknown to US Forces.  In that month, the US became aware of the H6Ks, and repeatedly attempted intercepts by the P-40Es of the 29th Fighter Squadron based at Albrook Field in the Canal Zone.  However, these attempts remained unsuccessful.  Later, in August of 1942, the 29th moved to Simon Bolivar airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from where 1LT Edward "Ted" Harbison successfully intercepted and destroyed H6K2 number 1.  Following this loss, Detachment Soto was disbanded, and the remaining H6K2 was transferred to the Fuerza Aerea Peruana, where it was used to establish the FAP's first dedicated maritime reconnaissance squadron, 73 Escuadrilla de Informacion Marítimo, based at Ancón.  The forward base at Puerto Pizarro was abandoned, being only 100 miles from the US fighter base at Guayaquil.

The first drawing below shows the second H6K2 in the markings in which it operated as part of Detachment Soto.  The second drawing shows the same aircraft later in its career, after it had been transferred to the Peruvian Air Force's newly established 73 Escuadrilla de Informacion Marítimo. 

Offline Acree

  • That will teach you to frustrate the powers that be...won't it comrade?
  • Sentenced to time in the BTS Gulag...
Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2015, 07:58:27 AM »
In the first minutes of December 14, 1939, the German battle-cruiser Graf Spee dropped anchor in Montevideo harbor, having limped in after being badly damaged by the British Royal Navy's Force G in the Battle of the River Plate.  The British and German diplomatic delegations both worked hard to pressure neutral Uruguay - the British hoped to keep the still-dangerous ship bottled up until a stronger force led by HMS Ark Royal could arrive.  The Germans sought to obtain permission to do major repair and resupply of the Graf Spee in Montevideo.  Over the subsequent two years, the Germans managed to bring in some repair and replacement equipment as work on the ship proceeded very slowly.  Among the materials brought in were two Arado Ar 196A-3 floatplanes, intended to replace those destroyed during the battle.  These were erected and flown (in German markings) from the Uruguayan naval air base at Isla Libertad, ostensibly for test and training purposes.  In reality, these flights also served the purpose of protecting the Graf Spee from submarine attack.

The Graf Spee was finally sunk in harbor by a Royal Navy airstrike launched from HMS Argus and Ark Royal in November, 1941.  Subsequently, the two Arado floatplanes were turned over to the Uruguayan Navy, continuing to fly from Isla Libertad until the late 1940s.  They were repainted in Uruguayan colors and marked OP-1 and OP-2 (for observación and patrullaje).  OP-1 is shown in the drawing below:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2015, 01:27:42 AM »
I have invented many Seaplane versions of P-38 and P-51 at:
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=5139.0

Offline dy031101

  • Yuri Fanboy and making cute stuff practical- at least that's the plan anyway
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Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2015, 12:08:25 PM »


Designed at the behest of Frontier Navy Foreign Auxiliary in order to make wider use of the many patrol boats (making them useful for long-range patrol works, for example) integrated into their jurisdiction since the establishment of the Foreign Auxiliary Command, the Delphinus class Offshore Patrol Mothership serves as both a tender and a fire support ship for those boats.  The aft half of the ship is allocated to an open-topped well dock that allows up to four small corvettes and patrol craft to be serviced whereas air defense missiles and a rapid-fire artillery turret are mounted forward.  Two hangars, each capable of servicing a light helicopter (Wildcat currently in service with Foreign Auxiliary, for example), and a flight deck are provided amidship.

A Cassidian TRS-4D active electronically-scanned array radar serves as the main sensor of the ship; while the ship is equipped with hull-mounted sonar, it's primarily intended for detection of mines and hostile demolition divers, not for combatting submarines.

In order to provide fire support to the "daughter" boats against hostile aircraft and surface targets armed with heavy artillery, this ship possesses a 100mm auto-loading gun, 48-cell Mk.41 Tactical Length VL missile launcher, and two quad Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers; for close-in defense against hostile littoral combatants, there are in addition two Marlin weapon stations with a 25mm KBB cannon each, three 25mm KBD gatling guns (installed in upgraded Phalanx Block 1B CIWS), and two 12.7mm machineguns.

==================================================================================



The League of Kings and their clients are well-awared of the fact that if their raiding fleets are to stand a chance against the Frontier Navy and co-belligerent forces of off-world civilizations, they need a comparable variety of aerial supporting assets.  Aerial tankers allow their carrier aircraft to stay in the air longer (important, as most of their carriers are afforded with none more inspiring than navalized MiG-21), and electronic intelligence and warfare aircraft are valuable both in guiding raider squadrons into ambush positions and in warning them of or even thwarting enemy search-and-destroy efforts.  While the warlord alliance do possess land-based support platforms, the immense distances often involved in order to provide coverage to their raiding fleets have limited such platforms' responsiveness and flexibility.

Since traditional carrier-based support aircraft are beyond what the majority of their carriers, equipped with skijumps, are capable of launching, and they initially lacked a matured development for a helicopter-based solution, several League of Kings' original founding warbands combined efforts to modify an amphibious aircraft design into several variants, one equipped with a so-called "Balance Beam" active electronically-scanned array radar for airborne early warning role, one serving as an aerial tanker, and one fitted to carry out airborne jamming.

Next challenge comes in the form of ships capable of supporting them.  Unlike Frontier Navy's co-belligerent off-world partners, a few of whom do operate seaplanes as well and proceed to build heavily-armed seaplane carriers and incorporate such ships into naval action groups, the League of Kings prefer the more-concealable auxiliary cruisers and submarines operating outside of already-deployed raider squadrons to support the seaplanes.  The latter option comes in the form of I-590 Type Ho nuclear-powered submarine.

Each I-590 Type Ho is capable of refuelling up to three flying boats simultanteously and can carry small spare parts as well as even replacement aircrew; alternatively it can carry up to eight 40-foot ISO containers.  Armaments include six bow-mounted 533mm torpedo tubes with either 12 torpedoes or 24 mines; while the warlord alliance reportedly developed a submarine-launched version of Noor anti-ship missile that can be fired from 533mm torpedo tubes, such missiles are known to have never been issued to these submarines, ostensibly to discourage overzealous behaviours amongst their captains.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2015, 02:04:27 PM by dy031101 »
Forget about his bow and arrows- why wait until that sparrow has done his deed when I can just bury him right now 'cause I'm sick and tired of hearing why he wants to have his way with the cock robin!?

Offline dy031101

  • Yuri Fanboy and making cute stuff practical- at least that's the plan anyway
  • Prefers Guns And Tanks Over Swords And Magic
Re: Finished Builds - Profiles/Stories
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2015, 08:44:30 AM »
Alt. Republic of China Navy carriers:

Alt. Universe No. 1



Based on decades of (initially clandestine) research and trials on auxiliary ship that incorprated experimental aviation facility, Ning-Hai class cruisers are built as escort flotilla leaders, providing command and control capabilities and extending the fleet air defense umbrella via FV-8B Harrier (equipped with APQ-159, predecessor to the American and European Harrier II Plus programme) embarked onboard.  The armament comprised a Mk.38 twin 5-inch guns, two Mk.13 launchers for RIM-66E Standard SM-1MR SAM, two quadruple Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missile launchers, a Mk.112 anti-submarine rocket launcher with 15 extra rounds stored in a reload house behind the 5-inch gun (reloading is manually-done, however, being modeled after the emplacement used on the old Gearing class FRAM destroyers), and two Phalanx Block 1 CIWS.  The air group comprised six FV-8Bs, five S-70C(M) anti-submarine helicopters, and four locally-developed AEW version of UH-1H Huey, inspired by an ex-ARVN ELINT UH-1H that force landed on a ROCN LST sent to evacuate Chinese nationals during the closing days of the Vietnam War.  The helicopters are housed in the three hangars in the superstructure, the Harriers being carried in an aft below decks hangar.  Radar fit included SPS-49 long-range 2D, DA-08 medium-range 3D, two navigation/surface-search sets, and four STIR 2.4 illuminators (using the same UD-417 antenna as the American STIR, the same configuration as adopted from Cheng Kung class guided missile frigates).  Despite being fitted for towed-array sonar, American refusal to provide one meant that only hull-mounted sonar is incorporated.  A H-930 MCS combat data system is installed.



In early 2000s the Ning Hai class received "Wu Chin V" ("Lethality Improvement"; "IV" is skipped over because, you know, Four is Death in Chinese cultures) Program both to improve self-defense capabilities and to better inter-operate with the Chi Teh class (ex-USN Kidd class) guided missile destroyers.  Both Mk.13 launchers are modified to fire SM-2MR missiles; Phalanx cannons are upgraded to Block 1B standard; the Mk.38 twin 5-inch gun is passed to coastal artillery units, the more modern Mk.45 being mounted in its place; HF-2 launchers are replaced with a new type of launchers that can take both containers for HF-2 and containers for the new HF-3 supersonic anti-ship missiles (a normal loadout includes two containers of each type per launcher); two HF-2E cruise missile launchers, each with a magazine for an extra missile, are installed on each side of the ASROC launcher; two twin launchers for quad-packed navalized TC-2 point air defense missiles (for a total of 16 missiles) are added; and DA-08 radar is replaced with a derivative of CS/MPQ-90 that is also capable of providing fire control for the TC-2 missiles (and installed in a manner that is influenced by the Australian CEAFAR).  ATAS (V)2 active towed array sonar, the same one as used by the Kang Ding class frigate, is installed as well.

The surplus SM-1MR missiles are reportedly being rebuilt into surface-to-surface missiles, but the status of that program and whether it's intended against ships or ground targets are currently unknown.

The UH-1H AEW is replaced with an AEW derivative of the S-70C(M)-2 with an improved radar and tailwheel of MH-60S, and the FV-8B Harrier is upgraded with a version of GD-53 radar that is BVR-capable via TC-2 air-to-air missiles.  Sometimes the recently-acquired S-70C(M)-2U, analogous to the MH-60S, would be outfitted for aerial mine-countermeasure duties and embarked in place of the usual complement of anti-submarine helicopters.

There are signs as of late suggesting that ROCN has been getting the cruisers ready for the bigger F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.  So far ROCN has refused to comment about these outside observations and speculations.

=============================================================================

Alt. Universe No. 2



Following commencement of defense-related trade with France in the late 1980s, the Republic of China Navy gain access to implements of war vital to their aggressive ocean defense strategy (defense of ROC's far-flung territory i.e. South China Sea, as well as defense against the People's Liberation Army Navy's inevitable capability to flank Taiwan via the high seas, whereas the Army and Air Force branches are geared toward defenses of ROC's main islands) but the US would not provide- for examples, high-performance sonar and fixed-wing naval aviation capabilities.

Using damage control of the La Fayette frigate scandal as bargaining chip (no dogmatic and politically-fueled handling of the affair that happened in real-life), Taiwanese officials managed to get the French to agree to sell the Rafale fighter.  Lack of progress in gaining participant status in the F-35 programme led to ROC's decision to go ahead with the purchase.

Typical of Taiwanese indigenous frontline surface combatant programmes, ROCN attempted to produce a warship that is heavily-armed for its size and configuration, accepting trade-offs in the size of deck park (and being over-budget in the end, also typical of Taiwanese indigenous frontline surface combatant programmes).  Due to difficulty in obtaining catapults, the carrier is equipped with a skijump.  Carrier air group includes 24 Rafale M, four S-70C(M), and four AS532 Cougar configured for airbrone early warning (using a derivative of Horizon radar).  The carrier is also armed with two 16-cell VLS of quad-packed navalized TC-2 point air defense missiles, two Mk.16 ASROC launchers with nine reloads each (maunally-loaded, patterned after the long-decommissioned Gearing class FRAM I destroyers), four twin containers that can accept either HF-2 and supersonic HF-3 anti-ship missiles, three ASO 600PX 40mm L/70 autocannons, and two Phalanx guns.  Primary radar suite includes Jupiter II long-range 2D air search radar and navalized CS/MPQ-90 phased array 3D air search radar.



The ASROC reload houses are replaced by two 16-cell VLS for a mix of HF-2E cruise missiles and indigenous anti-submarine missiles after development of the latter is complete.  Two pintle-mounted T75 20mm autocannons are installed where the Mk.16 launchers used to be.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2015, 02:17:29 PM by dy031101 »
Forget about his bow and arrows- why wait until that sparrow has done his deed when I can just bury him right now 'cause I'm sick and tired of hearing why he wants to have his way with the cock robin!?