Tall Ships of Twilight 2000

[cawest]

Until right now, I wasn't even aware of these sailing cruise ships. Those are quite interesting! The largest two, Club Med 1 and Club Med 2 (the latter only completed in 1996) have a gross tonnage of almost 15,000 ts and are listed having a crew of around 214 and a capacity of 340-386 passengers, mostly in twin-beds. The staterooms look easily convertible to two double-racks or even six bunks in total. If you stack up in the state rooms in such a way and reduce the crew, i. e. the steward department, you can embark a light marine battalion.

Certainly they would have to make due almost without any land vehicles, but four medium sized barges can hang from davits. Deck space is a problem though, with only a small forecastle and not much space on the quarterdeck (i. e. the stern). I really don't see room for recoilless guns without some rebuilding, to be honest, mainly since the huge back-blast would make them dangerous to operate near walls and sails. Also, the range is not great on these guns, so Bofors 40 mm in single or dual mounts may be a better alternative. Light guns up to 30 mm as well as the venerale Bofors also enjoy the benefit of not needing barbettes, i. e. they could be bolted directly on decks without punching through the construction. That makes retrofitting much easier.

One probably could raze the light structures on Star Deck - mainly a glass superstructure housing a restaurant - in order to create more deck space for crans, boats, vehicles, containers and light artillery. A great feature of both ships however is the water sports platform, which is essentially a miniature well deck/dock and can be used to disembark marines quickly for boarding parties etc. There is also room for small-craft.

The big question for these ships constructed by Socit nouvelle des ateliers et chantiers du Havre will be, how there computers have weathered nuclear war. The ships cannot be sailed manually without significant modifications to the standing rigging. The masts are not meant to be climbed easily and the crew complement does not support a traditional sailing crew, without significantly reducing the number of passengers. So, if the computers are fried, e. g. by EMP, those ships become slow steamers, 10 to 12 knots with engines only, compared to 15 kn under combined (sailing and steaming) propulsion.

Deckplan: https://www.windstarcruises.com/Blan...f_10-22-20.pdf

how about towing barges. i remember seeing paintings of sailing ships towing light boats behind them (think it was a horse lighter)

[cawest]

An added complication is that the Garden Island Naval Base (Australia's west coast submarine base) and the Kwinana fuel refinery just across the water are moderately likely nuke targets. If so, Fremantle's port facilities would likely have taken at least minor tsunami damage, if not blast damage.

But I do like the idea of the Duyfken having made it to launching.

yea the sub base might get nuked, if it has sub pens. but they might just send in some ship/sub/air launched cruise missiles with HE/Frag warheads. or maybe a small nuke in the 10 or 15kt or even RA 115/RA 115-01. they might need the bigger boys for other targets.

have you thought about maybe writing up your idea

[Vespers War]

Do NOT forget the infamous WINDJAMMER sailing fleet that stalked the Caribbean until they went bankrupt in 2006. Those four ships could carry a huge compliment of crew and passengers.

S/V Mandalay was originally the yacht S/V Hussar. Crew of approximately 28 and 72 passengers. It was sailing out of Grenada until this year, when COVID put it out of business (for now, at least).

S/V Yankee Clipper was the German armored yacht Cressida until captured in World War II. It's retired and permanently docked in Trinidad. 30 crew and 68 passengers.

The S/V Polynesia (formerly the Portuguese Argus and featured in National Geographic's May 1952 issue) had a crew of 45 and 116 passengers, while S/V Legacy (formerly the meteorological research vessel France II) had a crew of 43 and 122 passengers.