Build a Battleship

This program is intended for 3rd – 12th grade with modifiers based on age groups

 Examine the three primary components of a battleship: propulsion, armor, and armament. Use this knowledge to design your own battleship
factoring in the problems that the designers of real ships faced.
 The idea of this program is that each table of people gets a packet (see the end of this lesson plan) and a worksheet. Each group has to decide
whether they want more guns, more armor, or a faster ship. There is no right answer.

Lesson Plan:
One of the most obvious parts of what a ship will look like is how long it is and how wide it is. When building BB62 the navy knew that she needed
to be able to go through the Panama Canal. The narrowest part is 110 feet. So how wide can the battleship be? 108 ft and 3 in.
Someone figured out that there is an optimal length to width ratio [Have older kids actually work the math, 7.96 x (beam) = ideal length] and thus
she is 887 ft, 7 in. That is as big as a ship can possibly be to fit in the Panama Canal.

What dictates what our ship will look like? Weight and Cost

When a battleship was being designed there were two main constraints the designers had to balance, one was weight. International treaties in the
1920's and 1930's said battleships could not displace more than 35,000 tons standard. After subtracting your hull and the weight of all of the small
things like crew, food, and fuel, you still have 55 million tons of displacement to work with.

Who can guess what the other limit was? (people often say the navy, that isn't right, eventually someone will answer government)

What branch of government decides how much can be spent? Congress/legislative

Congress tells the Navy how much money they have to spend on their ships. Today you have $200 million to spend.

You are going to have to balance three different things in your design. Can anyone guess what one of those things are. (often you get buoyancy, no
that is covered by weight).
Armor, firepower, and speed are the three things you'll have to balance but you don't have enough money and displacement to do everything well.
We let our students use calculators, but this is basic math, so depending on your classroom priorities, the program isn’t majorly more time
consuming to not use calculators, but it can help if your focus is on the history and less the math part.

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We recommend that students pick guns last regardless of their priority, because those two will cost the most in both weight and money and if they
start with guns then tend to have a ship that can’t leave port. They may add as many of and as many types of guns that they like.

The last class of battleships that the American Navy built, and the last active battleships in the world had major guns and immense armor, but the
priority of the shipbuilders were speed. In that class was the battleship USS New Jersey, the fastest battleship that the world ever built.

You will choose your components to make what you think is the best battleship.

Context
Battleships were the most powerful surface warships in the world during the 20th century. The battleship building race between Germany and Great
Britain was one of the causes of World War I. After the war, the navies of Great Britain, the United States, and Japan got into a second building race.

To stop the expenditure and forestall a possible future war the war weary victors met in Washington DC in 1922 to sign the Washington Naval
Treaty, the first international arms limitation treaty in history. The treaty required each navy to destroy many of their older battleships, cancel
battleship under construction, and not build new battleships for a decade. New battleships would be limited to 35,000 tons standard displacement and
guns of 16” or smaller.

The signatories met in London in 1930 to extend the building holiday and again in 1936. At this Second London Naval Treaty, the countries that
would become the Axis powers backed out of the treaty. The countries that would become the Allies invoked and “Escalator Clause”, allowing them
to increase the size of their ships to 45,000 tons standard displacement.

In addition to the weight being limited by international treaty, the cost was also limited. In the United States the Navy does not get to choose how
much to spend on a new ship. The legislative Brach, Congress, gives the Navy a budget.

These are the limits Iowa-class battleship like USS New Jersey were built to. It took years and a lot of hard decisions and compromises to come to a
final agreement on the design. Battleships are comprised of three different aspects, guns, armor, and speed. There is never enough weight and money
to build a ship that excels at all three of these things so designers have to intentionally choose what they want to highlight and what compromises
they have to accept.

Two competing designs that were worked on simultaneously, one that was traditional like all previous American battleships and focused on guns and
armor at the expense of speed, and one, which focused on speed first, and guns second at the expense of armor. In the end, the fast design was
selected and built.

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Because it takes so long to design a battleship navies rarely built just one of each design. In fact there were 6 Iowa-class ships were authorized and
four were eventually completed. Most American battleships were named after states. Modern warships are often named after famous people and
sometimes after places or famous older ships. Be sure to pick names for the ships in your class. Each designer can pick a name.

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Engines:
You may select only 1 engine
scheme. While your ship will likely
have multiple engines and boilers,
you only need to pick the type of
engine that you will have.

Armor:
You may select only one armor
scheme. This chart shows you where
the different types of armor are.

Guns:

You may add as many guns as you

would like, within your weight and
budget limits. This chart is merely an
example of where New Jersey’s guns
are, minus many Anti-Aircraft guns.

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Engine Options
Option: Max Horsepower Range: Weight: Cost: Notes
Speed :
Steam 33kn 212,000 Travelling at 9,990,000 lbs $65,000,000 Eight Water tube boilers
Turbine A 15 knots, Four geared steam turbines
15,000 four shafts
nautical miles two rudders

Turbo 32kn 180,000 Traveling at 7,352,000 lbs $63,000,000 Sixteen water tube boilers
Electric 10 knots, Sixteen turbo generator
Drive A 10,000 Eight
nautical miles Four shafts
One Rudder

Steam 30kn 172,000 Travelling at 7,352,000 lbs $61,000,000 Eight 2 drum boilers
Turbine B 15 knots, Four geared steam turbines
15,000 Four shafts
nautical miles Two rudders
Steam 27kn 130,000 Traveling at 6,064,000 lbs $58,000,000 Sixteen water tube boilers
Turbine C 15 knots, Sixteen turbo generators
15,000 Eight Motors
nautical miles Four shafts
Two Rudders

Diesel 25kn 56,000 Travelling at 6,064,000 lbs $54,000,000 Four 9 cylinder diesel engines
Generator 19 knots, Two shafts
16,300 One Rudder
nautical miles
Turbo 21kn 28,900 Travelling at 2,046,000 lbs $48,000,000 Eight water tube boilers
Electric electrical 10 knots, Eight turbo generators
Drive B horsepower 8,000 mi Four motors
Four shafts
One rudder

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Armor Options:
Turret Barbette Deck Belt Conning Total Weight: Total Cost:
Face Tower
Heavy 22.5” 21” 9.5” 16” 18” 32,700,000 $85,000,000
Balanced External
angled 19*
Heavy Long 21” 16” 11” 14” 16” 36,900,000 $88,000,000
Range External
straight
Heavy 26.5” 24” 7.5” 18” 21” 34,200,000 $83,000,000
Close External
Range angled 19*

Medium 18” 17” 6” 12” 17” 31,200,000 $82,000,000

Balanced Internal
angled 19*

Medium 14.5” 13” 8” 10” 12” 31,800,000 $83,000,000

Long Range Internal
Straight

Medium 22” 22” 4.5” 14” 18” 30,800,000 $81,000,000

Short External
Range Angled 19*

Light 12” 9” 3” 9” 6” 24,800,000 $67,000,000

High Speed External
Angled 11*

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Gun Weight Cost Rate of Range Armor Notes:
Fire Piercing
Ability
Main Battery
18”/48 4,800,000 $4,600,000 1.5 39,700 At 10,000 Japanese started using this type of gun
Ship to Ship lbs Rounds yards yards can without American knowledge in World War II.
Ship to Shore
/minute pierce 34” of
armor.
16”/50 4,400,000 $4,000,000 2 rounds 36,700 At 10,000 This was possibly the best battleship gun
Ship to Ship lbs /minute yards yards can ever put into service
Ship to Shore
pierce 26.2”
of armor
14”/50 3,200,000 $3,500,000 1.75 36,800 At 10,000 During the battleship modernization
Ship to Ship lbs rounds yards yards can program of the 1930s, the 14”/50 Mark 11
Ship to Shore
/minute pierce 20.12” was used to rearm the New Mexico and
of armor Tennessee Class
Battleships
12”/50 2,200,000 $3,550,000 2.75 33,600 At 10,000 Designed to fire the new “Super Heavy”
Ship to Ship lbs rounds yards yards, can AP Projectile
Ship to Shore
/minute pierce 18.23”
of armor
Secondary Battery
6”/47 382,502 $1,000,000 12 23,500 At 10,000 Unlike all previous 6” guns, these could
Ship to Ship lbs Rounds yards yards, can load at any angle enhancing their Anti-
Ship to Shore
/minute pierce 3.2” aircraft use. These guns did not prove
of armor reliable in service, possibly because of
the high rate of fire and need for
any-elevation loading.
5”/38 174,625 $1,500,000 15-22 15,919 At 10,00 This was unquestionably the finest
Ship to Ship lbs rounds yards yards, can dual-purpose gun of World War II. During
Ship to Shore
Anti-Aircraft /minute pierce 1.5” the war they were considered to be highly
of armor reliable, robust, and accurate.
5”/54 78,000 $1,400,000 15-18 22,500 At 10,00 This gun was not as popular as the 5”37
Ship to Ship lbs rounds yards yards, can Mark 12, possibly because the larger
Ship to Shore
Anti-Aircraft /minute pierce 2” of projectile and cartridge cases resulted
armor in faster crew fatigue.

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4”/50 26,730 $1,900,000 8-9 15,920 At 6,300 Well liked on later ships, as its light
Ship to Ship lbs rounds yards yards, can weight made it easy to handle, an
Ship to Shore
Anti-Aircraft /minute pierce 2” of important factor on a smaller ship
armor
Anti-Aircraft
Guns continue on back of
3”/50 33,195 $1,100,000 45-50 12,600 At 6,00 This was the smallest-caliber weapon
Ship to Ship lbs page
Ship to Shore
rounds yards yards, can which could still use the VT fuses
Anti-Aircraft /minute pierce 2” of available at the time. It also had a
armor concentric counter recoil spring, which
meant that it was more easily adapted for
automatic fire.
40mm/56 14,163 $500,000 80-90 10,691 At 2,000 Probably the best automatic cannon
Anti-Aircraft lbs Rounds yards yards, can anti-aircraft weapon of World War II,
/minute pierce 2” of largely ineffective against Japanese
armor kamikaze attacks
1.1” /75 10,500 $380,000 150 7,000 Cannot Nicknamed the “Chicago Piano”.
Anti-Aircraft lbs Rounds yards penetrate Frequently jammed.
/minute armor
20mm/70 1,845 lbs $250,000 250-320 4,650 Cannot Widely used by many nations, this 20mm
Anti-Aircraft rounds yards penetrate automatic weapon originally designed by
/minute armor the Swiss firm Oerlikon was probably
produced in higher numbers than any other
AA weapon of WWII. Ineffective
against Japanese kamikaze attacks.

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 Weight: Cost:

Engine option:

Armor Option:

Guns:

Total Weight: Total cost:

Your total allowed weight is: 55,000,000 pounds

Your total allowed cost is: $200 million

Which category did you prioritize, or were you fairly equal across the categories?