Quote:
Originally Posted by J0313
I was wondering why your model of the Tipperary has two gun mounts on the stern versus the one mount shown in the photo?
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The photo is Broke, her surviving sister, in 1918. After Tipperary was sunk at Jutland, her sister ships had the dual 4" guns at the stern replaced by one 4.7" gun. Probably for stability; too much top weight can be dangerous to a destroyer.
@Torpedodude23 - Thank you for your interest! We are always happy to have new faces at subsim - in the end, I hope this mod doesn't disappoint. Everything is always a work in progress - I still have a lot to learn, but hopefully the latest ships look better than what I posted at the start of the mod.
@brickvapie - Early in the war 1914-1915 they will use ramming, guns, or makeshift ASW bombs. The interesting thing is, there were quite a lot of primitive anti-submarine weapons that are older than the depth charge.
Before the war, the Royal Navy had designed what were called "cruiser mines". They were big and heavy, over 1,000 lbs and had a slow sink rate - plus, they only had one depth setting (45 feet). This meant that they were not very successful and scored no kills as far as I know.
Navies also used bomb thrower float/stick bomb combinations.... a thin stick of explosive attached to a ball that looked like a toilet tank float.
These were also crude, ineffective, and had a poor kill rate (once again I cannot confirm any kills through my research).
The Royal Navy also had aircraft bombs attached to floats as makeshift depth charges, designed in 1914 and used in 1915....also bad weapons.
My plan is to give a few destroyers depth charge predecessors in 1914-1915. By December 1915 DC's will be in service, by the end of 1916 they will be somewhat common, and in 1917-1918 they will be standard equipment. However, hunter-killer destroyers will "only" have about 30 DC's in 1917-1918 which is a historically accurate load - not like the hundreds on some WWII escorts.
To counterbalance the smaller DC load - keep in mind that the British had THOUSANDS of trawlers and drifters that they put to work in WWI; the fishing fleet was much larger than in more modern times, and it was easy to equip trawlers with a couple guns and maybe 2-4 DC's. The first Battle of the Atlantic was no cakewalk for the German subs - despite some stupid mistakes by the Allies before 1918, they learned fast. I have heard of submarine hunts that involved 40 patrol craft, trawlers, etc.... all it takes is for you to surface in front of one, and it calls in the destroyers. Assuming you sink it with your deck gun, 4-5 others will be breathing down your neck - shooting and calling in the destroyers. No wonder about 50% of K.M. U-Boat men did not survive the war. Below is an image of primitive ASW weapons from early in the war.
