Nothing super special about these two battlecruisers but they have been particularly successful in two battles in the 1922 war with Great Britain. The two of them have destroyed all three
Rodney-class 42,600 ton fast battleships via turret flash fires/magazine explosions. As listed, the first was laid down shortly before Jan 1916 when the 12 inch Belt/31 knot rule seems to take effect. It's not necessarily a much superior design to the British ships, there were extenuating circumstances in both battles. Celtic Deep was a full fleet battle and the British capital ships were engaged with the American battleline with the two American battlecruisers crossing the British T in the scouting force or actually behind the British line in the latter part of the battle (I believe the game takes into account turret facings so USS
Yorktown and USS
Saratoga weren't facing the British battleships front turret faces.) In the second battle at Fårö Island, it was two on one since HMS
Majestic was the "support" force and the British battlecruiser force got separated from the Americans after the start since the scenario began at night. The armor scheme does seem to be effective at ranges greater than 12,000 yards which is where they have been doing their fighting.
Yorktown-Class 38,200t
27kts
11/8/8
Laid Down | Commissioned FateYorktown BC-9 9/15 | 4/18 In Service
Saratoga BC-10 4/16 | 6/19
In ServicePropulsion – 22 x Oil fired boilers, 2 x Steam turbine sets directly driving 4 screws
Armament – 6 x 16 in/45 Mark 2
[Editor's Note - In-game Quality 0 (Q0)] (2,2 FA 2), 14 x 5 in/40 Mark 4
[Ed - Q0] (6x2, 2x1)
Armor – Belt–16”, Deck–3.5”, CT–16”, Turret–16”, TT–4”, Sec–2.5”
Description – The
Yorktown’s continued the practice of designing a fast version of the current generation battleship. One aft turret was removed from the
Georgia design and the hull was stretched for a more efficient length-to-beam ratio and to house the additional boilers to provide the necessary steam power.
An improved, higher pressure boiler design with circulation augmenters and superheaters allowed twenty-two boilers to achieve the same design speed as thirty-six boilers on the previous
Valley Forge-class. However, architects had to settle on matching the original design speed of twenty-seven knots of the
Valley Forge-class rather than the twenty-eight knots the ships achieved in actual trials. A twenty-eight knot design speed for the
Yorktowns would have required a displacement larger than the nation’s current shipbuilding capabilities unless unacceptable reductions to the ships’ armor were made. The reduction in boilers led to the use of two stadium shaped exhaust trunks rather than the three smaller, circular funnels seen on previous American battlecruisers.
Except for the above mentioned removal of the aft, superfiring main gun turret, the ships used identical turrets and mountings as the
Georgia-class including the shift of most of the secondary guns to twin, armored mounts.
The armor scheme used the all-or-nothing concept and provided protection levels identical to the
Georgia-class battleships.
Director fire control was used for the primary guns as was standard practice at the time. However, for the first time in an American warship, the secondary armament also received Directors for fire control significantly increasing their accuracy. 115 rounds were carried for each main gun.
A planned 1918 refit was performed on
Yorktown shortly after commissioning.
Saratoga received the refit prior to commissioning. Modifications and improvements were installed to increase the accuracy of the main gun Directors bringing them up to the Mark 2 standard. To take advantage of the increased accuracy, the main guns were modified to allow higher elevation and greater maximum range.
Starting in early 1920, the ships were sent back into the yards for a minor refit. Handling and training gear for the secondary gun mounts were updated increasing the guns’ rate of fire.
During the 1922 war with Great Britain, these ships earned a reputation in the US navy as Titan killers. In two separate battles over a period of six months they caused the sinking of all three of the Royal Navy’s 42,600 ton
Rodney-class fast battleships via turret flash fires that resulted in magazine explosions.
[Ed - Entry up to date through April 1924.]
TROM
Yorktown Sep-15 Keel laid down
Apr-18 Ship commissioned
Jul-18 Assigned to USLANTFLT, commenced 1918 refit at Philadelphia NSY, completed 11/18, ship placed in Reserve
Mar-20 Commenced 1920 refit at Philadelphia NSY, completed 7/20, ship placed in Reserve
Aug-22 Ship Activated
Jun-23 Deployed to Northern Europe, US European Fleet 7/23
Oct-23 Celtic Deep, sank BB
Empress of India via turret flash fire/magazine explosion, suffered light damage, reported to Helsinki NS for repairs, completed 11/23
Apr-24 Fårö Island, suffered light damage, repairs completed dockside
Saratoga Apr-16 Keel laid down
Jun-19 Ship commissioned
Sep-19 Assigned to USLANTFLT, placed in Reserve
Jul-20 Commenced 1920 refit at Philadelphia NSY, completed 11/20, ship placed in Reserve
Aug-22 Ship Activated
Jun-23 Deployed to Northern Europe, US European Fleet 7/23
Jul-23 Northern Celtic Sea
Oct-23 Celtic Deep, sank BB
Rodney via turret flash fire/magazine explosion
Apr-24 Fårö Island, sank BB
Majestic via turret flash fire/magazine explosion, suffered light damage, repairs completed dockside