Shipbucket

It's the mid-90ies so NLOS isn't in play yet and the Mk 41 just plain don't fit. He has enough helicopters to ruin anyone's day so short ranged SSMs wouldn't be of much utility.
Whether to use the the 127mm or the 8" is a matter of priorities. The 127 is lighter, has a higher burst ROF and, assuming the same volume is used for magazine in both cases, a lot more ammunition.
The 8" gun has longer range and more bang per round. At this point Vulcano is still a paper dream.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

Well the fact he has Tigers embarked sort of suggested otherwise. The Tiger may have been around for some time but not in any sort of operational state, hence me going more modern.

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AU Projects: | Federal Monarchy of Tír Glas| Other Ivernic Nations | Artemis Group |
Blood and Fire

I didn't realize it was Tigers.
In order to fit the timeframe you'll have to choose something else. The most obvious choice for a pure attack helicopter would be the Bell AH-1 SuperCobra, though the A129 or the AH-64 would make sense as well

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

The timeline for these is that the refit was performed in the late 90's, but my nation is set in 2011. If thats any help?

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

I'd keep the VLS where you have it in it's current, correct position, and either put an OTO 127mm forward of the the VLS, or possibly a RAM launcher, if you're worried about CIWS. I'd go with the newer OTO 76mm or 76mm DART in place of the old ones, and put another RAM launcher on top of the hangar roof.

Definitely, get rid of those Sea Sparrow launchers. ESSM can be quad packed in your VLS--even devoting only 4 cells gives you 16 of them, ready to go.

Regards Phalanx, I'd go with Fast 40 instead, though you'll need to find room for the directors, but you can use those pedestals to hold the ammo for them. (Might have to widen the pedestals, however)

Lastly, I'd get rid of the forward director and radars, and replace it with a phased array structure.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

I'd say that's much too ambicious.
The mk 41 won't fit in the old Terrier magazine, and repurposing the space below it will require a major rebuilt.


DART wasn't available in the mid 90ies and the only phased array available is the SPY-1.

_________________
“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

I misread his last post, thinking the update year was 2011.

I did do some quick and nasty alterations, and found that if one wants to raise the structure over the old horizontal mags, then a Self Defence length VLS will fit in there rather snugly. That limits the options to ESSM, but better than nothing. ESSM and RAM will make for good missile defence, at least. The pedestals can hold either the standard 76mm or Fast-40 CIWS. OTO 127 can still go forward of the structure.

On the otherhand, if one wants to go to the expense, then the bow section could be cut off and rebuilt from scratch. Still cheaper than a new ship, as there shouldn't be anything located up there that is too expensive.

I'd say it's largely a matter of how long one desires to keep this vessel in service and how old it was to begin with.

*Edit* Since it seems these are the original Dorias, not copies/clones, their age really does limit the options to make it worthwhile here, unless something is absolutely making it impossible to replace them with new vessels.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

One thing that I did find was that getting rid of those cranes and boats would free up some space for some ASM launchers. Since this is a helo cruiser, then simply use your helicopters to fetch the mail and such.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

If you don't want to go VLS or big gun, one thing might be a rear-loaded MRLS launcher. You'd be able to use smaller missiles in a more compact magazine for more than 80 bombardment rockets in the space as the Mk-10 magazine and launcher.

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

I went for one of the Israeli made multiple calibre affairs on some of the Atlantian vessels. A navalized M270 could and/or would be interesting.

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AU Projects: | Federal Monarchy of Tír Glas| Other Ivernic Nations | Artemis Group |
Blood and Fire