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HMS Thunderchild Ironclad Torpedo Ram

Ship Lore:

HMS Thunderchild is the famous ironclad torpedo ram which dared to engage the invading Martians with ram and gunfire before succumbing to a boiler explosion; her sacrifice bought Royal Navy ironclads time to arrive on scene and ensure the escape of the civilian fleet.

Over the years there have been many versions of HMS Thunderchild, from the original H.G. Wells torpedo-ram to experimental destroyers and even a Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleship. The modern film version of War of the Worlds even had the nerve to omit having a warship intervention at all!

Construction:

This angular, pyramidal Torpedo Boat Destroyer hull was constructed by Zuthal for our alternate history 1905 Indian Navy project which is filled with ridiculous semi-mythical designs I will not bore you with. The hull was handed over to me with just the shell and propulsion machinery fitted, the designer having mentioned a large torpedo boat is not at all better than the small ones we already have.

With that in mind I requested to take over the project and expand the scope of what a "torpedo boat" could do - the broad beam and pointed shape of the Indian TBD project of course lended itself to conversion into an armored torpedo ram in the format of HMS Thunderchild!

During the course of the build, no references were consulted and no historical plans were followed, besides a customary glance at a cross-sectional plan of HMS Polyphemus, the only actual Victorian-era ironclad torpedo ram of the period.

I thought the hull shape not at all dissimilar to this angular TBD concept, and set the lifeboats at the expected position shown in Polyphemus's frontal plan. Aside from that, everything is fictional by design, including the 150mm x 6 APS rocket launchers derived from PT boat ordnance being tested by one of our key modders.

Progress:

Construction progressed smoothly and at the end of the day I had what appeared to be a very interesting and unique take on the HMS Thunderchild concept - a torpedo ram that's much more flexible and powerful than the historical counterpart, with a complex and highly effective AI attack pattern that starts off with a charge to close range discharging upwards of 40 150mm rockets, discharging bow torpedo tubes and making to ram the target before veering away at the last moment (she will ram under player steering override or strike a glancing blow at large / long targets, but not ram without consent as FTD AI doesn't know how to reverse after a collision!).

Disengaging, Thunderchild / Samosa will suppress the target with aft deck guns and Vickers MGs before wheeling around amid a two-torpedo spread from either of her aft torpedo mounts, then turning to repeat the rocket barrage, point blank bow torpedo salvo and so on.

1905 (Alternate History) Lore:

The Indian Navy ironclad torpedo ram of the Samosa class is obviously an outdated design from the 1880s. Its simple construction, high performance and heavy armaments were favored for the then-young Indian Navy that fought hard to safeguard sovereignity of the then-new Indian nation.

Experts of the time were shocked at the frontal firepower afforded by the twin sextuple rocket launchers of the never-exported Congreve-Nordenfelt volley type; there is speculation that the Indian government is on good terms with the Empress Dowager of China and thus benefited from espionage and reverse-engineering efforts funded by the Chinese government thanks to their mutual goal of resisting Western oppression.

Ironically, the proliferation of "unrotated projectile" systems as close assault naval weapon systems, would later serve the Russian Armed Forces well in the development of multiple rocket launch field artillery systems.

Specifications:

Commissioned:
HMS Thunderchild (1880X)
INS Samosa (1905X)

Dimensions:
Length: 60m
Beam: 14m
Height: 22m (total) 17m (mast height, for stadiametric ranging)
Draft: 5m

Top Speed: 30 knots, planing

Machinery:
2x Armstrong / Hindustan Industries Otto-cycle internal combustion, turbo-supercharged 2-cylinder diesels under protected enclosure
2x outboard shafts driving 3m diameter propellers
2x cruising thrusters (Note: This is for seakeeping as hydrodynamic trim tabs were not able to correct a slight 'crabbing'. Slight differential throttle used to maintain heading.)

Material cost: 18628
Blocks: 1779
Volume: 2862

Armaments (alternate history):
2x6 150mm Congreve-Nordenfelt Unrotated Projectile Launchers in bow turrets
5x1 47mm 3 pounder Hotchkiss swivel guns covering all angles
1x2 Vickers .50 caliber MGs on aft deckhouse
2x2 450mm torpedo tubes on broadside swivel mounts
1x2 short range bow torpedo tubes for use before ramming

FTD Mods:
After Cataclysm 1.0.1 or later required for decoration, railings, masts, observation and stadimeter telescopes, ballistic plating, custom torpedoes and detailed simple weapons
Dahak's APS Adjustment required for correct APS rocket performance and accuracy up to 1000m range.
Deco+ 0.03 by Thunderpanzer for smoke generators

Credits:
- Zuthal for initial hull construction
- Dahak for APS rocket-firing PT Boat test specimen
- Levibugs for administrative support
- Horsemonster for inspiration and discussion pertaining to the Torpedo Ram ship type
- And of course this level of detail in ship specifications from the 1905 Naval Review team.