- Yes.
- No.
- In a future Belgian/BeNeLux techtree.
- In another already ingame techtree.
- I said “No” in the first question/
Hello everyone, today I’d like to suggest a rather unique Belgian ship that was in service just after the second world war!
This is the Azalea-class sloop, Zinnia (1946)
Source: www.belgian-navy.be
For those that know a thing or two about this ship already I need to clarify one thing:
This ship has gone through various changes regarding her post war armaments. And on top of that the ship also went through a name change. In the end sources vary greatly with what armament was on the ship, and what name the ship had at that time, and etc etc.
So for this sugestion I’m keeping it simple. The Zinnia I’m suggesting is the ship WITHOUT the 105 mm gun at the front. The ship with the 105 mm gun I will suggest in another topic.
History & Development
Spoiler
This ship started it’s long live as the HMS Zinnia, who was launched in 1915. After the second world war she was stripped of her guns and sold to the Belgian Navy.
I have suggested HMS Zinnia already, check it out here: Azalea-class sloop, HMS Zinnia (1915)When the second world war broke out, the Germans captured the ship when they invaded Belgium, and then decided to update and re-arm the ship. She was ready in 1942, and renamed Barbara.
I have suggested Barbara already, check it out here: German Azalea-class sloop, Barbara (1942). German upgrades meets British design!When the second world war ended, the ship was located in Emden. She would be captured and returned to Belgium.
Zinnia in port.
Source: www.belgian-navy.beAnd that then brings us to this suggestion. The ship was given to the Navy in April of 1946 and was given her original name ‘Zinnia’ again, but when the ship arrived back in Belgium she was most likely stripped of most of her weaponry, and so the Belgian Navy did a bit of an improvised refit to arm the ship again.
Most likely due to a lack of proper weapons available at that time, the ship was given just 20mm guns. On the front of the ship a twin 20 mm and two single 20 mm autocannons were added. Futher to the rear of the ship two more single 20 mm guns were added, and to top it of on the stern of the vessel a quad 20 mm mount was added. Giving the ship a total of 10 20 mm autocannons.
Source: www.belgian-navy.beThis rather weird refit of the ship was not to last for very long however. The ship was put into service as fishing protection vessel, but in Febuary of 1947 the ship was renamed to Breydel, and would be given a VERY unique refit where pretty much every single German 20 mm mount you can think of was added to her.
But that brings this suggestion to an end since like I said at the start, I’m specifically suggesting Zinnia with just the 20 mm guns.
I have suggested the ship when she was renamed to Breydel too, make sure to check that out!
As you can see on the bottom right, it says Breydel on the name plate. This is the name the ship got in 1947, but I put this photo here to show the location of the quad 20 mm turret since this was the same as on the Zinnia
Source: www.belgian-navy.be
Specifications
Spoiler
Length: ~80 meters
Beam: 10 meters
Draft: 3.35 meters
Displacement: unknown
Crew: 142Machinery:
Propulsion: 1 × triple expansion engine, 2 × cylindrical boilers
Top speed: ~17.5 knots (32.4 km/h)Weaponry:
1 x 4 20 mm Vierling C/38
1 x 2 20 mm Flakzwilling C/38 M43U
4 x 1 20 mm C/30
Source: www.belgian-navy.be
Ingame
Spoiler
This will be a hard ship to balance, because on the one hand the ship only has 20 mm guns, but on the other it’s quite large and can take a lot of damage before going down. I think a ship like this is best kept as a premium or event ship to make it more uncommon on the battlefield.
The 20 mm guns will be a lot of fun to use however, any small ships that get close to you, you can just take out in a few seconds. Your large size will make it hard to dodge torpedoes, and since the 20 mm guns are your only weapon option, that means there are no AI gunners to shoot down planes for you so that is also up to you to do.
Overall I think this is one unique and funny ship to have ingame. Now it being Belgian does mean I would want to see this in some sort of Belgian or BeNeLux techtree, or sub tree. But let me know what you think of this!
I hope you enjoyed reading about this big weird boat.
Please make sure to leave a comment down below!
Source: www.belgian-navy.be
Sources
Spoiler
Main source:
Secondairy source:
Extra:
Weaponry: