Malta Class: The UK's Cancelled Equivilent to the American Midways

[TinWing]

Here is a link to the Never Were Warships thread where Autocad drawings of the Malta class are available.

http://www.phpbbplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=750&mforum=warshipprojects

 

[Triton]

Royal Navy Malta-class aircraft carrier

The Malta-class aircraft carrier was a British large fleet aircraft carrier design of World War II. There were to be four ships:

* HMS Malta (D93) Assigned to John Brown & Company. Cancelled 21 December 1945.
* HMS New Zealand (D43) Assigned to Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. Cancelled 21 December 1945.
* HMS Gibraltar (D68) Assigned to Vickers-Armstrong, Tyne. Cancelled 5 November 1945.
* HMS Africa (D06) Assigned to Fairfield, originally as Audacious class. Cancelled 15 October 1945.

The design was a major departure from previous Royal Navy designs, incorporating features such as an open hangar deck and reduced armor. Overall, the design appears to show the influence of the big US carriers, especially their relatively large aircraft complement and the hangar arrangements to make the large air wing possible.

General characteristics:

Displacement: 56,800 tons full load
Length: 915 ft (279 m)
Beam: 136 ft (41 m)
Draught: 34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: Steam turbines, 8 boilers, 4 shafts, 200,000 shp
Speed: 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h)
Complement: 2,780 (3,535 wartime)
Armament: 8 × twin QF 4.5 inch naval guns
8 × 6-barrel 40 mm AA
7 × single 40 mm AA
Aircraft carried: 81

Outboard profile of Malta-class aircraft carrier.

 

[TinWing]

Re: Royal Navy Malta-class aircraft carrier

A topic on the Malta class already exists. Please use the very accurate search function.

 

[AKS]

The drawings look very good - thanks Tinwing.

The only thing is that rudder looks way too small! It should be at least 1/50th of the underwater side area.

Say a water line length of 870 ft x 34 ft draft = 29920 sq. ft. divided by 50 = 600 sq. ft
Allowing for the draft (34 ft) the rudder would be about 25 ft deep then it should be about 24 ft long.

As it's an aircraft carrier with a huge amount of windage, my guess is that the rudder would probably be made at least 20% bigger than this.
Probably it would be about twice the area of that shown on the drawing.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

The only thing is that rudder looks way too small! It should be at least 1/50th of the underwater side area.

How many rudders did you count? There would be at least two (four shafts) and could be more...

 

[AKS]

How many rudders did you count? There would be at least two (four shafts) and could be more...

A good point and in fact an arrangement with two rudders and 5 shafts was discussed for these ships - D.K. Brown Nelson To Vanguard

But the two side views in the first image clearly show a single rudder.
If there were two, in the lower view the skeg would be seen part way up the hull and not projecting from the bottom.

 

[red admiral]

But the two side views in the first image clearly show a single rudder.
If there were two, in the lower view the skeg would be seen part way up the hull and not projecting from the bottom.

Well, there's also the retractable bow rudder...

 

[Username666]

Yesterday, while looking for Malta-class data English Wikipedia, I saw an article that there was a Malta-class design with a five-shaft propeller and armoured deck.

I was interested in this and wanted to see how the design was, so I tried surfing the web, but I couldn't find the design in the end.

So I'm going to ask you about ti. Does anyone know about the design?

 

[Tzoli]

All Malta designs had armoured deck. The final version as approved had 4" while the two known preliminaries I have (Design X and Y) had 6" deck and all 3 versions had 4" belt.
I vaguely remember a 5-shaft Malta proposal but I might mix things.
Design X was 274,34m (wl) long, same engine power, speed, and armament as Malta
Design Y was 228,62m (wl) long, same engine power, speed, and armament as Malta

 

[Username666]

All Malta designs had armoured deck. The final version as approved had 4" while the two known preliminaries I have (Design X and Y) had 6" deck and all 3 versions had 4" belt.
I vaguely remember a 5-shaft Malta proposal but I might mix things.
Design X was 274,34m (wl) long, same engine power, speed, and armament as Malta
Design Y was 228,62m (wl) long, same engine power, speed, and armament as Malta

Thank you TZoli!

 

[Tzoli]

There is some design history here:

British Aircraft Carrier – MALTA CLASS

The final version of Malta’s flight deck design in 1945. The dotted lines show the dimensions of the single-deck hangar below it. Malta’s open hangar design in 1945 compared with the USS Essex and …

weaponsandwarfare.com

 

[EwenS]

All the various Malta designs were "armoured" but not all had an armoured flight deck or hangar as in the Illustrious/Implacable/Audacious classes.

The debate about the Malta class began in 1943 with consideration of whether to adopt a "closed" (British style) or "open" (US style) hangar. A large number of design studies were made of both types. The former had armoured flight decks and hangars and the latter had no flight deck armour, the main armour being on the main deck instead. Studies also involved 4 & 5 shaft machinery layouts.

In Oct 1943 a decision was made to go with the a "closed" armoured double hangar layout, known as Design C. Essentially an enlarged Audacious class. The details were as follows:-

LBP 870ft
LWL 900ft
LOA 950 ft
Beam WL 115.5ft
Beam extreme 136ft
Displacement standard 45,620 tons - 47,740 tons
Displacement deep 57,300 tons
SHP 190,000 for 33.5knots at std disp, 32.5knots deep. 4 shaft.
Hangar deck area 69,800 sq ft
Flight deck area 90,100
Flight deck armour 4" over 1.5" plate.
Hangar sides/ends 2"
Side armour 3"
Decks 4-5"
Aircraft 108.
Lifts 2

I don't ever recall seeing any drawings of this version, possibly because its selection didn't last for long.

By April 1944 the debate reopened. The outcome this time was for an "open" single hangar ship without flight deck armour. The armour was on the main deck, below the hangar deck, to protect the citadel. Again there were various options considered until Design X1 was proposed in late 1944 for consideration. But the war ended before it could be approved by the Admiralty.

It is Design X1 that appears in the drawings, as presented by Tzoli and others above. Its characteristics were:-

LBP 820ft
LWL 850ft
LOA 897ft
Beam WL ?
Standard displacement 46,900 tons
Deep 56,800 tons.
SHP 200,000 4 shaft for 33.25knots at std disp, 32knots deep.
2 lifts on FD and 2 side.
Citadel armour 4" deck & side
Flight deck area 96,900 sq ft
Hangar deck area 56,950 sq ft

Details taken from Friedman "British Carrier Aviation" Chapter 14 "The Big Carrier: HMS Malta"

 

[zen]

Beam would be either 112ft or 114ft.

 

[Julio Garay Terrazas]

I found these three diferents images in my archives. As usual, I don't remember which website I found them on...

 

[EwenS]

Those are all representative of the final Malta X1 Design from late 1944.

 

[Username666]

Thank you so much for the good information!