Cleveland's two main caliber turrets weighed more than all 80 missile silos on destroyer Zamwalt. However, this is not all. For the sake of completeness, it is worth considering that the weapons of a modern ship are located UNDER deck, while the Cleveland towers were located ABOVE. Taking into account the difference in the height of the CG location, this should create an extra thousand tons * m of overturning moment (excluding barbets with six-inch walls).
No less terrifying results will be obtained by comparing the TARKr "Peter the Great" and the heavy cruiser "Des Moines". The main weapon of "Peter" - twenty missiles "Granite" - weigh three times less than one tower "Des Moines" (450 tons).
And the veteran had three such towers. Plus another, no less powerful and bulky armament - an armored carapace (belt - 152 mm, deck - 90 mm of solid metal), a crew of 1800 people and a course of 33 knots. As a result, Des Moines turned out to be 6,000 tons lighter than the nuclear supercruiser, despite the fact that it was built 50 years earlier …
Vertical launch module Mk.57 (one of twenty on board Zamvolt). The mass of a 4-cell PU with splinterproof armor is 15 tons
But since we have chosen “Cleveland” and “Zamwalt” for comparison, we will continue the analysis using these simpler examples:
The crew of "Zamvolt" - 140 people (if necessary, up to 200).
Cleveland - 1235 people.
A modern stealth destroyer is not easy. In addition to missiles, it carries a pair of automatic 155 mm AGS cannons weighing 100 tons (each). But to compete in artillery with “Cleveland” is useless for him. Twelve 127 mm guns in six Mk.32 turrets, for a total of another 300 tons.
Cannon "Zamvolta"
Universal artillery mount 5 / 38
Light defensive weapons. “Zamvolt” has a pair of 30-mm submachine guns.
Cleveland has 12 Bofors and 20 Oerlikons. Such nonsense, an extra hundred tons on the upper deck and superstructure platforms.
We seem to have forgotten something?
Inside the cruisers of that era, there was one interesting element that outwardly resembled a box without a bottom. The dimensions of the box are 120 x 20 x 4, 2 meters. The thickness of the walls of the box: in the front part - 51 mm of armored steel of class "A", the area of engine rooms - differentially 83-127 mm, the "cover" of the box - 51 mm. The armor plates were installed on a 16 mm STS structural steel backing.
All this is an armored citadel weighing 1468 tons (almost 13% of the cruiser's standard displacement). This figure includes armored traverses, barbets of main battery towers, protection of cellars (93-120 mm) and a conning tower with 130 mm walls.
In short, the creators of "Zamvolt" never dreamed of such a thing.
Power point
“Zamvolt” is the glamor of high technology. Two Rolls-Royce MT30 super turbines powering the RR4500 generators. Gas turbines, full electric propulsion, everything is controlled by pressing buttons.
Cleveland - the propulsion system is like hell. Eight water-tube boilers "Babcock & Wilksos", four turbo-gear units. Superheated steam whistle, soot, grinding, rust …
And what is their power? - the reader will ask.
Their power is the same ~ about 100 thousand liters. with. Moreover, the modern "Zamvolt" even lags behind in speed from the cruiser of the WWII era (30 versus 32 knots)
Maybe it's all about modern gas turbine installations, which require a huge amount of air to operate? Expanded gas ducts that take up extra body volumes - where missiles or computers can no longer be put …
Well, the eight boilers Babcock and Wilksos smoked no less. This is evidenced by two pipes, as high as a five-story building, and a drawing of "Cleveland", where the entire middle part of the building was occupied by chimneys.
And here's another interesting note:
With a full supply of fuel (2,498 tons of oil), “Cleveland” could travel 10,000 nautical miles (half the globe!) At an economic speed of 15 knots.
There are no data on Zamvolt. Nevertheless, as practice shows, none of the modern cruisers and destroyers could surpass the Cleveland in cruising range.
Aviation group
"Zamvolt" - 2 multipurpose helicopters.
Cleveland - 2 OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes.
Of course, the helicopter is twice as heavy as the old seaplane. But to ensure the operation of the seaplanes, two pneumatic catapults and a crane were required to lift them out of the water.
Radars
"Of course! - the reader will exclaim. - Electronics on board a warship - in a protected version, in reinforced housings, repeatedly duplicated and connected by protected cables with steel plugs, tightly screwed into the sockets of the devices. Generators, bulky radar antennas, mast structures, and also an air conditioning system for rooms with computers installed in them …"
Calm!
The listed problems do exist, but they are not the culprits of the "causeless" increase in the displacement of modern ships.
And besides, the old "Cleveland" was no less saturated with high-tech equipment.
Which is heavier - the "mirror" of the active phased array or the armored director of the Mk.37 fire control system with a pair of radars (16 tons)? Cleveland had two such directors. And also a five-meter antenna for an SC / SK general-view radar capable of detecting a bomber at a distance of 180 km and an SG-type surface surveillance radar, not counting the Mk.34-type main battery fire control directors.
All this was done on the monstrous radio-electronic base of the 40s. Only one analog computer LMS Mk.37 weighed over a ton.
Constructors' Cup
What is the answer to this problem?
"Zamvolt", full displacement - 14,500 tons.
Cleveland - 14,100 tons.
No, we are not comparing the combat potential of the Zamvolt and the WWII-era cruiser.
But in terms of load items, the Zamvolt built 75 years later must be equipped with some incredible amount of weapons - which weigh much less than the guns of WWII ships. And this despite nearly a century of advances in technology! On a modern ship, each plafond, switch, generator and switchboard weigh several times less.
Alas, nothing of the kind happens.
Both weapons and ammunition are a complete joke. 80 missiles "Zamvolta" against 200 rounds for each barrel of the main ship of the cruiser "Cleveland" (total 2400), and also a universal caliber - 500 for each gun (6000). It is easy to calculate the mass yourself. And everything else in the same spirit …
A sturdy veteran - one of the best cruisers of the Second World War, built in the number of 29 units. Leaving hundreds of thousands of fiery miles astern and capable of firing a hundred rounds per minute with the main caliber!
On the other side of the scale - floating with perverted articles of the load, in which the weapon accounts for only a meager part of the displacement, and nothing at all remains for constructive protection.
It is clear that the main problem of “Zamvolt” is a single superstructure pyramid that combines all pipes, masts, retractable antennas and gas ducts. The pyramid made it possible to place radars at a considerable height (from a 9-storey building) without violating the integrity of the stealth destroyer. To compensate for wind loads and overturning moment from such a "structure", in other words, to maintain the metacentric height within normal limits, the creators of "Zamvolt" were forced to spend the lion's share of the displacement on ballast.
Plus a less dense layout, in which compartments saturated with high-tech equipment (combat posts, command center, etc.) “swell” in size and squeeze out into the superstructure pyramid.
Finally, new trends in shipbuilding:
- automation and mechanization of most processes (belt conveyors along and across the entire body);
- completely sealed casing with increased pressure maintained inside;
- automatic systems for the localization of combat damage (smoke and water detectors, remote drives of hatches and doors, an automatic fire extinguishing system), etc. small but useful things. Well combined with comfortable conditions for the crew on board (gyms, fitness, restaurant meals).
Etc.
Perhaps this is correct. But still … Silhouettes of super-armed and protected ships of the past emerge from the smoke of naval battles. And maybe, when building the next Zamvolta, it is worth revising some of the priorities in the direction of constructive protection, weapons and ammunition?
Little Rock is a modernized Cleveland-class missile and artillery cruiser of the late 1950s.
