A viscous and viscous void fills the space. An inexplicable substance with the density of a neutron star, owing neither time nor space. Its smallest particles form patterns with such high degrees of symmetry that the void seems to be an artificially created, intelligent organism.
The theory of emptiness. Ether. Great philosophical "nothing".
What the most ingenious astrophysicists could not understand was successfully embodied in metal in 2017 at the German shipyard ThyssenKrupp.
A military super ship with a displacement of 7200 tons, loaded with … void.
Now I will try to explain what seven thousand tons mean for a warship.
With the proper approach, this would be enough for the implementation of very serious characteristics.
Such a ship can cut a wave at 32 knots with a total machine power of 68 thousand hp. Combined power plant - two steam turbines, two diesel engines, six steam boilers. To increase survivability, the EI mechanisms can be dispersed in nine watertight compartments (and there can be 16 such compartments in total).
Electricity requirements were provided by three turbine generators with a total capacity of 0.5 megawatts.
The ship had three main caliber towers (weighing 140 tons). And in the ammunition cellars, 1080 pointed blanks glittered dimly (at the rate of 120 for each barrel), each weighing half a centner.
The main battery was supplemented by a dozen smaller-caliber artillery systems (including the mighty “Akht-Akht”, anti-aircraft guns of 88 mm caliber). The armament was closed by torpedoes, 100 mines of obstacles, a catapult and 2 seaplanes.
Anything that can be used as a weapon will be used as a weapon.
The crew of the miracle ship consisted, in theory, of 500 sailors. In practice, 820-850 sailors, foremen and officers were usually present on board a cruiser.
Oh yes, I almost forgot.
After all this, there was a load reserve for the installation of armor. Not the thickest armor plates. But be careful! Steel products are distinguished by their massiveness.
In short: an armored belt (50 mm) with two traverse bulkheads (70 mm), bevels (10 mm), passing into the inner bulkhead (15 mm). Horizontal protection - a flat armored deck 20 mm thick, covering 100 meters of the length of the ship's hull. It is worth noting that the hull plating in the upper part of the side had a thickness of 15 mm, which contributed to the additional protection of the ship. And, of course, it increased the already considerable mass of the hull.
The exact value of the mass of armor protection will be suggested by military historians, but even purely offhand it is obvious that we are dealing with hundreds of tons.
This is what a warship is with a total displacement of seven thousand tons. That is how many weapons, mechanisms and various equipment are placed within the specified displacement.
You say - overkill. But how else could the cruiser "Königsberg" exist? This is 1927.
The K-class light cruiser has long disappeared into history. Now let's see what the designers of a modern ship spent 7200 tons on. The newest frigate Bundesmarine type F125 "Baden-Württemberg" (2017). The Germans themselves are ashamed of its size - in reality, the frigate has the size of a destroyer.
What the Germans have achieved in 90 years. The results are in a short table
The hull of the frigate is wider and less elongated (8 versus 10.4), due to the lack of the need to ensure high speed. The "chunky" hull with fuller lines contributes to better seaworthiness and, with the same displacement, has a larger internal volume.
No one is going to seriously compare the automation and the resource of the mechanisms of ships with a 90-year age difference. I can only note that a modern frigate demonstrates all the power of modern technology. According to calculations, “Baden-Württemberg” will spend at sea up to 5,000 hours a year (60% of the time), without the need for lengthy inter-voyage and scheduled preventive maintenance.
Requirements for ensuring autonomy and cruising range remained unchanged. Like 90 years ago, modern warships of this class have a cruising range of ~ 4000 miles. What does this mean for their design? Due to continuous progress and increasing efficiency of power plants, modern ships, with the same cruising range, require less fuel.
In terms of energy, a modern ship completely "merges" with its ancestor. And the question is not whether the overgrown frigate needs a speed of more than 30 knots, but that IT WAS, and now it DIDN'T. And the mass remained.
And if now this is not the weight of the power plant mechanisms, then what was the load reserve spent on?
I repeat, the power plant of "Baden" has not only less power, but also better specific indicators. Less weight (hp / t), better economy and efficiency. And if this is not observed, then this means that technical progress has been marking time for 90 years.
The speed dropped, the power decreased, the size of the power plant and the fuel supply decreased - the displacement (VI) remained the same.
Perhaps the designers sent the resulting reserve to weapons?
The most massive armament of a modern frigate is the 127 mm bow mount Otobreda eight times lighter than one tower of the cruiser "Königserg". Let me remind you that there were three such towers. And a modern frigate, in general, has nothing more massive.
No water cannons, inflatable boats and plastic anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" will cover that tremendous difference in the mass of weapons of ships of different eras.
Powerful barrels of guns in movable cradles weighing 12 tons, breeches, clanking chains of the ammunition supply system, drives and movable structures weighing 140 tons. There is no subject for objective comparison here.
Modern weapons take up less space (compare the sweeping radius of the Königsberg barrels - a dead zone where nothing can be installed) and weighs many times less than naval guns of the 1920s.
Who does not believe - let him estimate the mass of the mobile launcher RAM (the mass of the air defense missile system together with missiles is less than 8 tons) and compare this value with the twin anti-aircraft gun C / 32 caliber 88 mm (24 tons).
You probably remember about modern means of detection and fire control. Sonar radars, which in size and mass can (allegedly) go far beyond the limits of reason. This is the sought-after “dark matter”, which occupies most of the VI of a modern ship.
It would be good if so.
Alas, no "50-kilogram flash drives" (there was such a bike) and other masterpieces of military electronics, made according to military standards, with protection from EMP, with half-kilogram plugs and the need to blow 5 fans, will not be able to compensate for the absence of at least one 140 - ton tower of the main caliber.
I'm not even talking about the armor and the incredibly powerful (and long), by modern standards, power plant - design features that “ate up” a significant part of the VI of the ships of the Second World War.
Now, instead of everything - the Cassidian TRS-4D radar with an active phased antenna array. (We say as if the ships of past eras did not have bulky rangefinder posts and analog calculating devices, the size of an entire room. Well, let's omit this question, simplifying the task).
Returning to multifunctional radar. There are no heavy 50-kg "flash drives" there. According to data provided by the developer Airbus Defense itself, the radar is a compact system (these are not rotating radar blades on ships of the 60s), consisting of four AFAR modules. All equipment is housed in a tower-like mast mounted in front of the frigate's superstructure.
Indirectly, this is evidenced by the mass and dimensions of the radars of ground-based air defense systems, for example, 91N6E (S-400), placed on a mobile platform (MZKT-7930 tractor). With incomparable characteristics of radars - the domestic S-400 has a twice (!) Large detection range of aerodynamic targets.
For those who have not yet understood, the Baden-Württemberg ship radar has a very modest, by modern standards, detection range, inferior in energy capabilities (and therefore weight and dimensions) to the recognized favorites in the field of air defense.
And if the S-400, PAC-3 “Patriot” or long-range THAAD radar systems are placed on mobile chassis, why would a modest Caassidian TRS-4D radar suddenly weigh hundreds of tons ?!
It’s not even Aegis.
Hydroacoustic station? Traditionally a large and heavy element of a modern ship.
Three "ha" times. On the new German frigate it is not.
Sources speak only of the anti-sabotage detection system for combat swimmers.
Maybe modern designers spend hundreds and thousands of tons on systems of protection against weapons of mass destruction? Sealing, filters, deck irrigation system?
No, gentlemen. I can say with all confidence that these elements do not affect the dimensions in any way. And they weigh light enough to remain invisible against the background of the ship's dimensions. History knows examples when PAZ and forced air conditioning systems were installed on ships of the late WWII period, without any noticeable effect on their design. An example is the heavy cruiser Worcester.
7200 tons of void.
This is more than strange. Built at the turn of the millennium, the German frigates of the previous Saxony type (F124) had a larger crew, higher speed and carried weapons of a different scale.
Two radars. The first is APAR, a weight and size analogue of the Cassidian TRS-4D, with four AFARs.
The second is a powerful decimeter S1850M with mechanical scanning (rotating antenna post) with a target detection range of ~ 1000 km.
And, in addition to the two RAM self-defense air defense systems, they had 32 bunch installations for the "Standard-2" anti-aircraft missiles (in the future, it is possible to place the anti-satellite "Standard-3"). And these are completely different possibilities. This is not Baden-Württemberg, whose air defense ends 9 km from the ship.
Otherwise, "Saxony" carries the same "Mauser", "Harpoon" and helicopters. And, by the way, it is equipped with a subkeeping anti-submarine GAS.
What's the joke? Previous generation frigates had a smaller displacement than the “Baden-Württemberg”. A whole thousand tons!
Explanation of paradoxes
As already noted in previous articles devoted to the inexplicable loss of displacement on modern cans of warships, during the design process 7, and 8, and 15 thousand tons, wasted in the void, can easily be “lost”.
And this, in no way, is not a reproach to high-class design specialists. This is following the trends aimed at optimizing the fleet for decorative functions and tasks.
You can place a bridge (observation deck) with all communications and workplaces for dozens of sailors at the height of a nine-story building. This is in the era of digital technology, remote controls and high definition cameras.
Risky, you say. The crew will not be able to steer the ship in case of damage to TV cameras and sensors by a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A counter question - will the sailors, during a nuclear explosion, the sailors stand and admire the bright flash from the bridge?
Nonsense. The bridge turned into an observation deck is for beauty.
And the new German frigates - to serve in peacetime.
Hence the high sides and superstructure. Giant hangar, walls and roof. What's inside? There are four inflatable boats inside. And boxes of gas ducts of the power plant.
Baden-Württemberg is the apotheosis of modern trends in shipbuilding.
At the same time, such a moment cannot be ruled out. Like most European ships, Baden-Würthemerg comes into operation structurally underloaded. If necessary, additional weapons can be installed on board. The most obvious option is a reserved space for UVP cells in the bow of the frigate. Offhand - 16 launchers of the Mark-41 type.
Of course, what has been said will not be able to cover the tremendous difference in weapons, radars and control systems between “Baden” and “outdated” “Saxony”. But, it is obvious that the total displacement of the F125 project, in its current state, is slightly less than the declared 7000 tons.
As an epilogue, you can add the following: large reserves are hidden in the design of modern ships. When the conditions of technical creation change, the designers will easily realize any wishes of the customer. As easy as they can waste 7,000 tons into the void.
