What is the ugliest ship?

[garrisonchisholm]

The other day I completed what I privately declared to be the ugliest French ship ever.  Then I was later thumbing through one of my books and came across this picture;






My first thought was, "what a rude little fortification."  Then I read the caption, and saw this was an 11,000 ton pre-dreadnought battleship.

It looks like a housing tenement.  If you were told it could move under its own power, one of your first thoughts might very well be (after "why??"), "...which is the front?"

Can anyone offer a more homely military vessel?

[oldpop2000]

Oct 18, 2017 19:08:13 GMT -6 garrisonchisholm said:

The other day I completed what I privately declared to be the ugliest French ship ever.  Then I was later thumbing through one of my books and came across this picture;






My first thought was, "what a rude little fortification."  Then I read the caption, and saw this was an 11,000 ton pre-dreadnought battleship.

It looks like a housing tenement.  If you were told it could move under its own power, one of your first thoughts might very well be (after "why??"), "...which is the front?"

Can anyone offer a more homely military vessel?

Hey, it's a warship, not a Picasso. As long as it fulfilled its mission, I am good.

[Airy W]

Coastal ships are, as a general rule, going to be ugly: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas-class_monitor, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_M15

But still, the French example is pretty impressive.

[boomboomf22]

Yah, well the french ones have no excuse. They were not coastal battleships, that is a typical fullblown French Pre-dread. As to Oldpops comment, yeh IF they fulfill their job, which most of them just barely did. The pronounce tumble-home lead to both issues while underway, stability issues making for very poor gunnery, and consistent problems making their top speed. The French were exceedingly lucky they never had to fight a naval battle with those heaping piles of crap.

Add to that the fore guns are single barrel 12"ers (usually due too the narrow fore and aft decks), and on many the midships guns were single 10" turrets.
They were garbage to the point where I would almost prefer to have some of the Austrian Micro battleships. At least those were acknowledged as a stopgap for shipbuilding exp, as well as being coastal. The French build several generations of these crapships.

[Enderminion]

Sea Shadow, it looks like a box other ships come in.

[bcoopactual]

I would say, especially if you are talking within the game's timeframe, that the French must be considered the hands down winner for several designs and the actual conversation is for second place.  I think I've commented on another picture similar to the one that garrisonchisholm  posted in the past but it remains true.  In my opinion that battleship wouldn't look out of place at the battle of Stalingrad that's how ugly it is.  

I wouldn't count monitors because they were mostly glorified barges.  I would stick to actual blue-water fighting designs.  

As far as second place, I would like to submit for consideration the N3 and G3 BB/BC's planned by the Royal Navy.  Even the Nelson's aren't that bad looking and I'm not a fan of the Nelson's to begin with.  Perhaps they could be disqualified since they were never actually built but they were both approved and the G3's actually ordered with steel being cut for the first G3 when they were cancelled due to the Washington treaty. 

   

[Enderminion]

I don't see why they're ugly, is it because of the superstructure aft of the Q turret? the N3/G3 are just terrible designs to begin with designed to augment existing ships (IIRC)

[garrisonchisholm]

I see what Bcoop is saying; there's a certain harmony and proportion that (ideally) *should* be present which is just not for the N3s. They seem out of balance, due to the Q turret but also the "humped back" feel of the stack's placement. Hood was supposed to be beautiful, but I would say Tiger comes closest to a layman looking at her and commenting at a gallery, "yeah, they got that right."

[oldpop2000]

Oct 19, 2017 5:55:56 GMT -6 Enderminion said:

Sea Shadow, it looks like a box other ships come in.

I remember the Sea Shadow, she used to park when in port at the Quay Wall at North Island. I drove by her on many occasions heading to my office. She always looked like a modern replica of the CSS Virginia (aka Merrimac).

[Enderminion]

She looks like a fast ship, but isn't, speaking of fast ships, Skjold class, 60 knots in calm seas

[garrisonchisholm]

Ahh. Say Pops, remember when the USS Minneapolis was the fastest ship in the world?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Minneapolis_(C-13)

Wikipedia doesn't mention it, but I remember reading a Proceedings article from the mid-80's that talked about the extraordinary expense they went through to make them the fastest cruisers in the world, a title they held for about 18 months I believe.

[Enderminion]

ah, but you know the real fastest ship was USS Recruit

[oldpop2000]

Oct 19, 2017 10:09:10 GMT -6 Enderminion said:

ah, but you know the real fastest ship was USS Recruit

You mean the USS Never Sail at the old Naval Training Center, San Diego, yup she was the fastest. She was modified from her original configuration. She now looks like an Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate. I hope they are able to make her into a Maritime Museum. She is a registered Historic Place. You see her on Harbor Drive going over to the Point Loma.

[Enderminion]

Oct 19, 2017 10:17:42 GMT -6 oldpop2000 said:

Oct 19, 2017 10:09:10 GMT -6 Enderminion said:

ah, but you know the real fastest ship was USS Recruit

You mean the USS Never Sail at the old Naval Training Center, San Diego, yup she was the fastest. She was modified from her original configuration. She now looks like an Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate. I hope they are able to make her into a Maritime Museum. She is a registered Historic Place.

no the wooden dreadnought in NYC

[oldpop2000]

Oct 19, 2017 10:20:41 GMT -6 Enderminion said:

Oct 19, 2017 10:17:42 GMT -6 oldpop2000 said:

You mean the USS Never Sail at the old Naval Training Center, San Diego, yup she was the fastest. She was modified from her original configuration. She now looks like an Oliver Hazard Perry class Frigate. I hope they are able to make her into a Maritime Museum. She is a registered Historic Place.

no the wooden dreadnought in NYC

I believe there were three USS Recruit type ships, all are now dismantled except for the one in San Diego. I could be wrong.