What-If IJN battleship Ise (伊勢)

[able]

Battlecarrier

[warspite63]

Crazy enough to be real!

Again, fantastic attention to detail.

[D-Boy]

Able, can you comment on the build process for the Ise? I love all three builds, but this one grabs my attention and won't let go.

[gnorfen]

Crazy but inspiring, I would not have liked to served on it, capsizes as soon as launched

It looks like a deck from Ryujo, hullmix from threedeck Akagi and Ise?

I must say that this build gives ideas how to have fun with some of my older not completed IJN kits, some absurd Yamato ships or modified Nagatos or other ships from the Hiraga archives that gives lots of artistic freedom.

[PetrolGator]

Love it, in spite of how utterly top heavy such a boat would be. The IJN may have just been crazy enough to try!

[GMG4RWF]

Love it, in spite of how utterly top heavy such a boat would be.

A lot of the IJN ships were top heavy ("cram in whatever you can & worry about keeping it afloat latter"), this and a disdain for anything "defensive" (ie: armor/damage control/repair) contributed heavily to the IJN losses to (in many cases) crippling but not lethal damage. The Ryujo for one (originally designed for a single hanger with around 15 aircraft, flight deck was raised to add a 2nd hanger to double air-arm, created excess top weight issues). Even their "special" type (Fubuki class) DDs were notoriously top heavy, especially the type IIs (Ayanami) which replaced the original 12.7cm/50 low angle "Type A" turrets with larger & heavier high angle "Type B" turrets, the reason the "Type 3"s (Akatsuki) were so much larger & more expensive. However, if this ship were built the same as other IJN carriers, with metal framed wood flight deck & large open hanger, then this ship wouldn�t be as top heavy as it looks. The hanger/deck structure wouldn�t be that much heavier than the 4 original armored turrets with their heavy guns. The main structural issue I see is the weight of the heavy pagoda offset to one side. This can be countered by internal ballast but that would add a lot of dead weight. The ship would be highly ineffective as a combat unit, getting into a gun battle would expose the unprotected aircraft facilities (& bombs/fuel) to enemy fire. The main gun barrels would likewise interfere with flight ops (massive air turbulence down the deck) & the weight/space would be better used for more aircraft/bomb/fuel storage. These are of-course the reason no true hybrids were ever actually built or used. That aside, I love the concept & with modern tech could be viable. Love the build, fantastic job!