This is a rather technical issue, depending on what you want. Do you want to know: 1) the model ships that travel the fastest, as allowed in your club? 2) the model ships that historically traveled the fastest, as currently present in your club? 3) the historical ships that had very high speed records? 4) the historical ships that actually went @#$%ing fast during wartime in an uncontrolled (not sea trials) environment? For points 1 and 2, we need to know more about your local club. But I believe I can answer points 3 and 4. The absolute fastest ship ever built that is legal for any form of model warship combat is the french destroyer Le Fantasque. On sea trials (3) it set a record of 46-point-something knots, which is near lightspeed, as far as warships are concerned. When France fell to Germany in WWII, the Le Fantasque and other destroyers in its unit set another record when they sailed from their home base to Britain. Official records for the speeds they traveled are not known, but if you take the distance they traveled (very long) and divide it by the time they took to cover that distance (remarkably short) the average speed comes in at more than 40 knots. That's several days of cruising at over 40 knots, plus the time to get out of port, work up to speed, and park the ships when they arrived. Probably the next fastest is the Capitani Romani class of Italian light cruisers. The Romani's never really got a chance to show their stuff in battle because Italy surrendered to the Allies before they could do much, but they came in at about 43 knots on trials and had the most reliable engines installed in an Italian warship to date. Another interesting ship is the Giussano class of Italian light cruisers. These ships were built ten years before the war and clocked 42 knots on trials. However by the time WWII broke out, their unreliable engines could only get them up to 31 knots or so and this actually led to the sinking of one. After that would be a tie between the IJN Shimakaze and the Russian Tashkent. I don't know their official speed trials but both of them were capable of a little over 40 knots. Some of the German Zerstorers were also capable of 40-knot bursts. The American destroyers are usually reported with fairly low speeds, sometimes as low as 33 knots. I've never actually looked deeply into it but the US destroyers could really haul butt when they wanted to (I'd bet 37 knots or greater) and they could do that for weeks in a row without blinking. The Americans also laid down and launched (but didn't complete until after the war) an experimental destroyer called the Timmerman that formed the basis of all future warship propulsion systems. I have documentation putting it at over 40 knots, and some hints that it nearly made 50 during some of its high-speed trials. Unfortunately much like the Iowa class, the USN has not officially announced its actual top speed.
What do you mean suggestions? -->Build it well? ----Seriously---- Just like in life, there are trade offs. Anytime you choose something based on "its the best" in one category, you loose out on another. My suggestion is choose the widest ship you can that is 35knots+, less than 30lbs (responsiveness) , and less than 4 feet long(turning).
Outside of destroyers, I don't think that there are many 35+knot ships under 4 feet long. For fast gun work, turning is far more important then speed. This is the reason why I had previously recommended an Invincible or Indefatigable class BC (AKA I-boats). They are middle speed (26 seconds) and both turn pretty well. For the Axis, I'd say go Von Der Tann (AKA VDT). If you absolutely positively MUST have a faster ship (24 seconds), then I'd say really, the only choice out there would be a North Carolina (AKA NC). For the Axis its Nagato, but those are a bit tough to build with all those curves and bulges. The downside is maintaining 6 units is NOT recommended for rookies...and with a ship that large, you are going to get pounded on a lot when (not if) you make mistakes. With a class 4, you are not worth the points to pound on over and over and they are simpler to build and maintain (a boat that WORKS is more important then ANYTHING...I'd rather have an Alaska that works on my team then a NC that doesn't). As far as speed, there are also cruisers and destroyers, but your average 10k ton treaty cruiser is no faster then a fast battleship or battlecruiser (24 secs) and carries SIGNIFICANTLY less firepower. Then again, you generally aren't worth shooting at, so that may have some appeal but you also may get bored with run and gun tactics all the time. Light cruisers are slightly smaller, and thus more difficult to build but also faster. They have the same limitations on firepower as heavy cruisers, but often times pack even less of a punch. For Big gun, from what I understand (I'm not a big gunner...so speculation follows) treaty battleships are the ticket for rookies. The NC is also a good choice here as would be a South Dakota (AKA SoDak). With Big gun you're going to have a more complicated ship regardless, so the number of guns and layout is going to be about the same. The bottom line: I-boat or VDT is recommended for beginners in fast gun. Mike D
That's why I said many. There are also PT boats...but building them is impossibly difficult. Plus they are boats, not ships; therefore they don't count
not impossible, not sure who it was but someone a few years ago at NATs had a pt boat that even fired a bb. booyah baby.
IJN cruisers are over 4ft in length. I didn't say they were impossible, I said they were impossibly difficult. There is a subtle difference in there. Basically, if you are a master builder you MAY be able to get one to work (not even guaranteed), but the rewards do not come close to compensating for the effort spent.
i'm pretty much a rookie builder (luckily with the help of a master builder and builder between our skill levels) that is attempting to do one. actually building it wont be the hard part, its whether or not it can actually float in a pond with some form of motion hitting the sides, i think its going to capsize. It will be impossibly difficult to hit with a BB (at least in the penetrable area) but impossibly difficult NOT to capsize just by driving by it. so far our convoy battles in BBS dont involve laps or anything like that, just last one to sink wins pretty much.... so i guess the best strategy would be to just sit there, as moving will probably increase your chances of sinking.
IJN Agano, USA: Juneau, GB: Fiji is a good choice Exeter La Argentina I can keep going... all quick 22 sec cruisers less than 4 ft by 4-5" beam. You could even go to 5 ft and still have a quick manuverable ship. This is why we need the warship registry. A quick easy search engine to solve problems like this. When I get time this winter I will finish it.
If you grab this http://www.mwci.org/shiplist.shtml and paste it into MS excel you can sort it any way you want.
