Originally posted by Grits
I think the most impressive ships were the Lexington class CV's Lexington and Saratoga. I am not sure, but I highly doubt any ship of any type with the tonnage of the Lex class ever went 36+ knots.
I quite agree - I have a lot of material on the LEXINGTON CLASS Battlecruisers before they were converted to Carriers. The Lexington Class BC's were designed to be the fastest Battlecruisers ever built with more horsepower than even the British HMS Hood.
What made them the the fasted Carriers in the USN (or any other Navy), besides their massive horsepower & Turbo-Electric Drive, was their "Length to Beam Ratio." Besides having the most HP, the LEXINGTON CLASS CV's were also the longest ships in the USN till the MIDWAY CLASS CVA's came along.
LEXINGTON CLASS CV: Length: 850'.....Beam: 105'4".....SHP: 180,000
(180K was designed SHP but it is recored that the Lex & Sara both got up to 210K SHP on trials.)
YORKTOWN CLASS CV: Length: 761'.....Beam: 109'5".....SHP: 120,000
ESSEX CLASS CV: Length: 872'....Beam: 147'....SHP: 150,000
(For Comparison)
IOWA CLASS BB: Length: 861'....Beam: 108'2"....SHP: 212,000
SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS BB: Length: 655'....Beam: 108'2"....SHP: 130,000
NORTH CAROLINA CLASS BB: Length: 704'....Beam: 108'3"....SHP 115,000
HOOD CLASS BC: Length: 810'....Beam: 105'....SHP: 144,000
(NOTE: All Lengths are at Waterline. SHP = Shaft Horsepower.
)As for the Iowa Class BB, to enable it to operate with the fast carriers, the South Dakota Class BB design was esentually taken back to the drawing board and re-worked to lengthen it and add more horsepower to the design to up it's speed and bunkerage for fuel.
I once read an armor study on comparisons between the two designs and it was figured the South Dakota's were actually better protected (even with reduction in speed) than the Iowa's because of their shorter hull made the armor citadel easer to cover vital parts of the ship.