[REL] The Little Ships of SH5 - Coaster Pack

[kapuhy]

Download links:

Vanilla version, for non TWoS users: STOCK FULL VERSION

NEW Little Ships 1.1 - for TWoS 2.2.25 users: LITTLE SHIPS 1.1

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LITTLE SHIPS 1.1:

This mod is an expansion of The Little Ships of SH5, made for users of TWoS 2.2.25. Since original Little Ships is already included in lates version of TWoS, you don't have to install it - instead, enable this expansion through JGSME within your TWoS_Parts folder.

Little Ships 1.1 brings additional six ships: two coasters, two small ocean-going merchants and two minesweepers. Other improvements include new, historically correct weapons for Fairmile Motor Launch (3pdr gun and depth charge chutes with very limited ammo), as well as further expansion of coastal traffic network modeled by vdr1981 in TWoS.

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STOCK VERSION:
This mod adds 5 new coastal ships and one ASW patrol boat (it also includes coaster I've relased separately earlier). All ships are done in .gr2 format, with visible 3d damage and except for Small Motor Coaster and Small Coastal Tanker - with breakable hulls. Stock version is configured to work with unmodded SH5 - do not install it if you use TWoS megamod.

Ships list:

1. Small Motor Coaster:



I relased this ship earlier and it already was added to TwoS, but I include it in this download for completeness – compared to TwoS version, only minor changes to damage model have been made.

Small Motor Coaster is based on unnamed set of plans, probably of Dutch coastal merchant "Baltic" built in 1940. Motor powered, with maximum speed of 8.5 knots and 250 GRT tonnage, this small vessel represents very common type of coastal ship mainly built in Netherlands in interwar period and still very popular after the war. Crews of these ships often included owner's family to cut costs, and small size allowed for going up rivers while still being seaworthy enough for open sea trade.

Four different textures are included, giving it some more variety.

2. Small Coastal Tanker:



Based on British National Benzole Company ships – "Ben Harold Smith" built in 1952 and "Ben Sadler" built in 1931, its a little motor powered tanker. Its main uses were delivering fuel to small ports that couldn't be entered by larger ships, as well as supplying ocean-going ships anchored in harbours. During the war, some were requisitioned by the navy to support naval operations and landings. Max speed of this vessel is 9 knots and its tonnage 325 GRT.

3. Old Coaster



This might be oldest ship in SH5 – it's based on unusually shaped (designed to fit locks on Eider canal) 264 GRT German steamer "Kanal" which was built in 1886 and served as livestock carrier until 1909 when its cargo stampeded towards one of the sides, capsizing her. Its appearance in SH5 is still plausible though, as some late XIX-century coasters had very long service life and were still travelling along many coasts in 1939.

4. Large Fishing Trawler



It's a bit weird that while stock SH5 has beautiful Armed Trawler model, it lacks any actual trawler. To fix this, I "demilitarized" Armed Trawler removing all military superstructure and repainting it into common civilian "red bottom, black hull, white superstructure" paint scheme. At 1100 GRT, this is remarkably large ship for a fishing vessel, hence the name. It can still be armed – in late war, it will have some 20-40 mm guns for self defense as most Allied merchants did carry some kind of armament at this point.

5. Fairmile "B" Motor Launch:



Although relatively unknown, this 85-ton patrol boat was actually the most numerous ASW ship in WW2. Simple wooden hull that was built in parts by dispersed small companies allowed for mass production - before the war ended, Fairmile served in 10 different navies and was produced in several countries. Many variants of this ship were made, from ASW through rescue to torpedo boat – I only modeled most common ASW variant for now but hopefully I can add some other versions in future updates.

Despite small size, Fairmile is a dangerous enemy – it's as hard to detect and hit as Elco, but carries Y-Gun, ASDIC and later radar, so unlike Elco it's a capable ASW vessel. On surface, it can turn your boat into scrap with mix of Oerlikons. Its weak points are its fragility and limited amount of DC's.

6. Coastal Tanker



613 GRT Coastal Tanker is based on historic American tanker Mary A. Whalen, built in 1938. She survives to this day in Red Hook, Brooklyn, crewed and maintained by members of PortSide NewYork. Mary has became famous after her 1968 grounding, which led to court case shaping modern US maritime law.

In game, she'll be seen carrying fuel on coastal trading lanes (only British, American and
Norwegian in this version). From 1943 onwards, she can be armed with some machine guns.

7. Raised Quarterdecker



Most common coaster design in late 19th and early 20th century, Raised Quarterdecker design was
the result of moving ship's engine aft to simplify machinery (shorter propeller shaft) and free cargo
space. This made stern heavier, so to compensate ship's aft deck (quarterdeck) was raised.

My example is modeled after 1921 Dublin-built steamer Moygannon of 545 tons. The ship survived
till 1940, when – due to navigational error – it crossed the path of outbound Atlantic convoy in
dense fog and sunk in collision with Danish steamer (making her sort-of U-Boat victim, as collision
would probably not happen if both ships weren't sailing darkened because of war).

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I still have several models of larger ships I plan to add to this mod in future updates (in this case "larger" means between 500-1600 GRT, these are still coastal vessels):



At the same time, I'll be also improving already relased ships - especially the Fairmile which still doesn't have its historically correct armament added (low-ammo DC racks and WW1-vintage 3-pounder deck gun). Another improvement I'm working on is lights for neutral versions and additional textures for more variety. So, this pack is far from final version

Should you find any bugs, please post them here and I'll try to fix them. I could not properly test ships in campaign (as this would require actually playing the career and hunting them down...), hopefully they will appear as planned.

And last but not least: Big, big thanks to:

Gap, Jeff Groves and Rosomaha: for invaluable advice, and lots of patience – without you I'd get hopelessly stuck along the way and never relase anything.
vdr1981: for the Wolves of Steel mod, only reason SH5 stayed on my PC long enough for me to even start modding it.
Sailor Steve: for inspiration - the idea to create coaster pack was born after reading your post in "what ships would you like to see in upcoming Wolfpack game" thread. This was the first time I've seen the word "coaster". I looked it up and before I knew it I was fascinated by these small ships.