Shipbucket

An African AU done for personal enjoyment. Hoping to start small and tweak existing designs rather than create fleet carriers from scratch, concluding with domestic-built ships.

Main POD here is late July '35. Britain decides to place an arms embargo both Italy and Ethiopia on the 25th IRL, but instead the conclusions Eden reached the month before provoke a different and opposite reaction. The Suez Canal closes to all Italian shipping (Eritrea is held by Italians at this point so it's a moot point for Ethiopia). This causes a shortage in Italian heavy weapons, especially in CV-33 tankettes and aircraft, as Italy refuses out of pride to resort to flags of convenience. The rest of the Abyssinia Crisis plays out to eventual war. The lack of heavy arms and mustard gas (IRL Mussolini authorizes the use of gas on Boxing Day '35) allows the Christmas Offensive to become a decisive victory for the Ethiopians, as 2,000 men of Ras Imru's Army of the Left killed Crinti's contingent of tanks and Eritreans to the man in Dembeguina Pass. The Army proceeded to roll up the rest of Badoglio's northern army, who had no mustard gas to save them. With Eritrea conquered and new forces, let alone reinforcements for existing, were coming at a trickle around the Cape, the Ethiopians were able to defeat the smaller Italian force in Somalia by force of numbers. The peace treaty, signed in early 1938, forced the Italians to cede Eritrea and forsake any future aggression against the Empire of Ethiopia. This victory earns it ridiculous street cred for defeating a colonial power not once but twice and places it within the British (later Anglo-American) sphere of influence by the time the war rolls around.

Of course, a Shipbucket AU isn't complete without ships. The Imperial Ethiopian Navy was founded in February 1941, as the United States, in one of its periodic Lend-Lease shipments, sold off five of its aging Clemson-class destroyers to Britain, which in turn gave them to the Ethiopians. One, the MIM (Mängəstä Ityop'p'yawi Märkäb, Imperial Ethiopian Ship) Ethiopia, became a training ship for the other four, the Addis Ababa, the Dire Dawa, Gonder, and the Dese. As Italian Somaliland was quickly overrun, the Imperial Ethiopian Navy spent its first days escorting small convoys within the Mediterranean while its much more glorious ground contribution to the Allied cause, the crack Kagnew Battalions, were ferried by British and American troopships.
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My first project is going to be the aforementioned Clemson-class destroyers. A fairly basic and crude kitbash with existing pieces and superficial changes, to reflect their "Africanization," based off the USN updates where the forward 4" gun was replaced with the 3"/50. My question is which mount would I be able to get away with? Would I be able to use a Mark 27/33 mount or just the pintle mounts like the others? Would I be able to add a rack of depth charges?

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5 destroyers seems like a nice starting point for a navy. Any minesweepers or other small ships planned? Also, I imagine that with the population of Somalia and Ethiopia, you might be able to squeeze in one of the excess C class cruisers from Britain into the roster.

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Worklist:
Puerto Oeste - AU - WWI-WWII

Minesweepers, yes, cruisers (even old buckets from 1914) seem excessive when there's really no elephant in the room yet capable of fielding a fleet, although one might be useful as an AA cruiser. Maybe in the later decades I'll have some of the surrounding countries fall to the Soviet sphere (Oman? Iran? India-cum-Pakistan?) that will justify greater expenses.

First things first though, would I be able to fit the Mark 27/33 (or god forbid the Mark 34) on a Clemson, as well as Hedgehogs?

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A try at things:

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Not gonna work. The early war conversions stretched the design to the limit. This conversion would likely break it.

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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.

So no 1945 version, I see. Would replacing the 3" guns with tons of Bofors work?

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I tried this: http://shipbucket.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2232 Anyway, those 3" guns were still being developed in 1945. I doubt the US would give the system to a smaller navy in the middle of the war. The 3"/50 this could accept would be the type found on destroyer escorts. Maybe one fore, one aft, a pair of single 40mm on the wing mounts, then a twin 40mm where those aft torpedo tubes are located, should you remove said torpedo tubes. Maybe even a 2-4 20mm or .50 BMGs scattered around would worked too. These ships were, as stated previously, stretched to their limits pretty quickly.

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Worklist:
Puerto Oeste - AU - WWI-WWII

U.S navy had converted some of its 'flush-deckers' before the war as follows
1] replacing all 5"/51 guns with 3"/50 single mountings. Two more 3"/50 replaced the aft torpedo-tubes to give 6 3"/50 guns.
2] adding 20mm guns, two in a tub between the boats, two in the wings, abreast the 3rd funnel.
3] ASW weapons was limited to depth charges.
BTW your placement of the Hedgehog aft is completely wrong, as it was an ahead throwing weapon, meant to attack submarines while still in sonar contact

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Alright, I've redone the Addis Ababa to include two more 3"/50s, but before I post it, what do you mean by its placement? Are you saying that I need to extend the frontal superstructure and adding a flak tower in the middle of the ship?

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Six 3"/50 single mounts, six 21" tubes, two Oerlikon 20mms.

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