The Ship Model Forum

Has anyone ever tried to build a 1/700 model of the Imperial German battlecruiser SMS Prince Edward from "Enigma: Rising Tide" game? I just got a great idea for anyone contemplating what to do with a spare HMS Hood kit.

For those unaware, here's some background:

Back in the early 2000s, a PC game called "Enigma: Rising Tide" was released.

It depicted an alternate world history where Imperial Germany won World War One by overrunning and occupying England, forcing the British govt. and Royal Navy to continue the fight from its Commonwealth Dominions overseas. It is now the late 1930s and one of the factions you can play is the Royal Navy in Exile (RNE) which is essentially the naval arm of the LFN (League of Free Nations) led by PM Churchill's government in exile, allied with the Japanese government. That's why you see the Alliance class destroyer in RN service, which are essentially IJN Kagero class destroyers with added torpedo and AA punch. They also have the Raiko class destroyer escort, which seems to be a cross between an RN Hunt class and an IJN design. The LFN and RNE's one goal is to liberate England and the rest of Europe from German rule; the RNE's flagship is an uparmoured HMS Hood, which escaped from England before it was overrun. The Gold edition of this game has playable Hood class battlecruiser called HMS Reliant.

The Imperial German Reichsmarine's fleet is even stronger than the historical fleet from WW1, incorporating heavier destroyers called the Barbarossa class. One of its larger warships is SMS Prince Edward, a sister of HMS Hood that was captured while being built. The ship is often called the "turncoat prince" in the game. The Prince Edward even has another captured sister ship called Kaiser Wilhelm. Both ships are essentially HMS Hood but with the same black and white stripes you would see on a WW2-era Bismarck. Therefore along with HMS Hood and Reliant, that means there were 4 ships in the class completed, 2 on either side.

In this alternate history, the US never joined World War One, although it is increasingly hostile towards Imperial Germany because of the Germans' expansionist tendencies. The US has carrier task groups in this era, while the Buckley and Fletcher class destroyers were built even earlier since there was no Great Depression in this timeline. The US has the New Mexico class battleship in the game, if I can recall correctly. Later in the game, the US declares war on Imperial Germany and launches a massive carrier air strike on the forward German anchorage at Scapa Flow in German occupied England. You see animation of Wildcats diving on German capital ships caught in the harbour.

Well, what do the rest of you think?

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

It's both deeply crazy and interesting. I've always been interested in "what ifs" that give me an excuse for an Atlantic theatre carrier war. This would appear to be one such. Might neuter the RN carrier wise, which really won't do, but it's interesting just the same. What does this do to Russia?

I don't remember what happened to Russia. If the Germans were victorious in WW1 in this alternate history, then one can infer that the Russians weren't able to continue their east front campaign against the central powers because of the 1917 Revolution.

After the US carrier strike on the German High Seas' Fleet Anchorage in Scapa Flow, the Kaiser and his acting Chancellor, the ex-Red Baron Manfred Von Richtofen, then decide that their super battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, which are currently building, will be completed as hybrid-battleship carriers.

And the end cinematic shows the Bismarck being completed as such.

The sequel to this game was supposed to be called "Sink the Hood", but it never got released since the makers of "Enigma: Rising Tide" got into legal squabbles with another company.

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill

Really - I can see the Torps but AA? I guess compared to British DDs which had basically no AA as their 12cm were low angle and not useful against dive bombers.

Why did they do that? I would have given the Germans Ersatz York Class BCs. basically the fast version of the Bayern class. A German design @ 33,000tn, 747.5' long, not quite as big as Hood but with the same armament, a slight speed deficit @ 27.25kts but a major armor advantage. It would make much more since, any Hoods captured would probably be scrapped and the steel used for German designs.


What about the Colorados? they were built in the 20s - a direct up-gun of the Tennessees which were a slight mod of the NMs. With no war debt/treaties, I would expect a few Lexingtons and SDs (1's - Colorado upgrades).

Actually Russia fell apart because they couldn't stand up to the Germans. With the chaos of the Communist revelation, with the US not enthralled in the war, I would hope that the US was able to prevent a communist take-over, perhaps a full collapse and breakup to independent nations (like today) with none having a significant navy (maybe German creeping expansion to the east one territory at a time Baltic/St. Petersburg fist then up to Murmansk).

Don't think that was in his personality, he was a soldier not a politician, though that often changes with age.

A wast, with modern VTOL tech its a great idea but with WWII tech its the worst of both worlds. You get a fragile battleship with reduced guns and lots of bombs, fuel and deck-space to be hit in a gun duel, and a carrier with fewer planes and lots of extra air turbulence spinning off the big gun barrels. better to complete one as-is and convert the other to a full carrier for air cover (though the GZ would likely be better as a purpose built design - smaller and more efficient with the same # of aircraft).

you said "late 1930s" the wildcat didn't fly till 1937 and wasn't operational till 1940 they should have F3F bi-planes.

Why don't you just look at the trailer for the game below, or actually play the game yourself? It may be full of historical errors you pointed out, but that's just the way the developers made it.

And you will see the Wildcats attacking the German High Seas fleet anchored in occupied Scapa Flow in time segment 0:43 of the trailer below.

"Enigma: Rising Tide" trailer

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"Haijun" means "navy" in Mandarin Chinese.

"You have enemies? Good. It means you stood up for something in your life."- Winston Churchill