Balkan League short history-
The Balkan League formed to fight Turkey in 1912. In this universe possibly include Romania and have Greek involved in the first Balkan War only as an associated power (this makes the league as a whole more like to be pro-White Russia). One way to avoid the post-Balkan war fracas that destroyed the League historically is to make the establishment of an independent Macedonia one of the League's goals. So I'd propose the League in Iron Stars consists of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania and Macedonia, with the Greeks and White Russians counted as allies.
Design Philosophy-
The Balkan League Combined Fleet has several issues it has to address when it comes to designing ships. First, the League is poor. Dirt poor. The A.B.C powers are wealthy by comparison. That means every ship is a precious and almost irreplaceable asset. Therefore, League ships tend to cram as much armor onboard as possible. Additionally, every ship has be something of a jack of all trades as the League can't afford specialists. Second, the League concentrates most of their worry and effort on the Turks, almost to the point of having tunnel vision. This heavily influences the League's design process, as the League will try to counter anything the Turks have and tend to ignore anything the Turks don't. For example, as the Turks currently lack any ships capable of carrying FAC's the League doesn't worry too much about FAC defense (and at present doesn't field any themselves).
Sofia class Light Bombardment Cruiser-
The Sofia class was ordered by Bulgaria as a rather conventional light cruiser design in late 1910. Constructed alongside several smaller destroyers by the Germans, it was intended to server as Bulgaria's flagship and main orbital deterrent. With the British attack on Buenos Aires soon the Bulgarians insisted the design be heavily modified to serve in the role of a 'bomber'. It was hoped that a ship such as this would intimidate the other Balkan powers and allow the ether-navy to contribute greatly to Bulgaria's security. However, the radical interior changes needed to add bomb-bays after construction has commenced forced the turret arrangement to be shifted, resulting in one of the poorest set of firing arcs on any Ether-vessel. With the formation of the Balkan League Montenegro helped Bulgaria to fund the construction of a second vessel of the same class (the ship operates with a Bulgarian captain and a Montenegrin XO at all times).
Sister Ships- one, name TBD
Sofia class Light Bombardment Cruiser
Hull: 5 (S/2) PV: 21
Armor: 2
Thrust: 7
Primaries: -
Secondaries: 2/d8(x2)
Light Guns: 6/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: -
Bomb Racks (2)
[1-9] [10] [11-15] [-] [16] [17-20]
Pliven class Light Cruiser-
The Russians have always been great supporters of Pan-Slavic unity (or so the Russians like to claim). When the Balkan League formed the White Russians hoped to advance their cause and gain influence over the new alliance by offering them the uncompleted keel of a Petrograd Light Cruiser at a cut-rate price. After specifying several changes to the design (principally in the area of adding additional armor protection, which unfortunately slowed the ship down and necessitated removing much of the expendable ordnance) the League ordered the ship completed in Russian yards. The ship is run by a multi-national crew, which makes shipboard life 'interesting' to say the least.
Sister Ships- none
Pliven class Light Cruiser
Hull: 8 (S/2) PV: 35
Armor: 2
Thrust: 5
Primaries: 4/d6(x2)
Secondaries: 4/d6(x1)
Light Guns: 6/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: 2/d6(x2)
[1-9] [10] [11-13] [14-15] [16-17] [18-20]
Bucharest class Strike Cruiser-
While the destruction of the Haberver in the Italo-Turkish war was a great relief to the League the Cellat still has to be 'dealt' with. The League decided a battleship was out of reach at the present time, and even if it was the League couldn't agree on the specifications! The Romanians decided to expand their contribution to the Combined Fleet and ordered a 'battleship killer' from their White Russian allies. The ship was fairly unconventional, featured 3 large single turrets and a keel bombard. With very low thrust for a ship it's size, many observers (and the crew) criticize the design, stating that 'it better be able to fight battleships, that's the only thing it can catch!'
Sister Ships- none
Burcharest class Strike Cruiser
Hull: 11 (M/2) PV: 50
Armor: 3
Thrust: 4
Primaries: 3/d10(x2)
Secondaries: -
Light Guns: 6/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: 2/d8(x3)
Keel Bombard
[1-11] [12-13] [14-15] [16-17] [-] [18-20]
Vasil Levski class destroyer-
The Bulgarian destroyer ordered at the same time as the Sofia class, the Vasil Lavski has become the standard destroyer of the Balkan League. More fluff coming.
Sister Ships- several
Vasil Levski class Destroyer
Hull: 1 (VS/0) PV: 6
Armor: 1
Thrust: 6
Primaries: -
Secondaries: -
Light Guns: 2/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: 2/d8(x2)
[1-3][4-5][6-16] [-] [-] [17-20]
Stefan Nemanja class Light Cruiser-
Serbian design, haven't worked the fluff out yet. Basically one of the 'jack of all trades' mentioned above.
Sister- possibly one
Stefan Nemanja class Light Cruiser
Hull: 6 (S/2) PV: 25
Armor: 2
Thrust: 6
Primaries: 2/d8(x2)
Secondaries: -
Light Guns: 6/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: -
Mine Factors (2)
Bomb Racks (1)
[1-10] [11] [12-15] [16] [-] [17-20]
So that's my first pass on the Balkan League. I tried to avoid making them too powerful, as you'll notice no battleships or even any particularly large crusiers. I tried to make them quirky but useful, but I'm afraid I moved too far into the ‘quirky' range. So please give me any feedback, negative will be useful as positive in this case! Anyway, based on the ships I've designed so far I'd anticipate the Balkan League having 4-5 light cruisers, 1 larger cruiser and 6-8 destroyers, which I figure is reasonable considering the multiple nations involved and the Balkan's international situation. Also want to emphasis that nothing is set in stone to my mind, I'm willing to listen to all suggestions, fluff-wise and design wise.
-Will
