CHAPTER 03 -- THE LONG QUAY
Chapter 03: THE LONG QUAY
This is the way the Imperial Dockyards might have looked on any given day circa 1908 to 1918. Most prominent in the picture is the stern of a Helgoland Class battleship – easily identified by her wing turrets and three funnels. A pall of smoke hangs over the harbor, emitted by the many moored ships with boilers on line to provide steam to run various bits of machinery – most especially the electric lighting generators.
The mastheads of five vessels can be seen tied up along the quay, but there is surprisingly little activity ashore. It is mostly aboard ship that the crews can be seen at work, indicating that they are engaged in routine maintenance and “housekeeping” duties.
In order to create something vaguely similar, I determined to make a long dock that would berth at least four warships.
Having roughed-in the North Ship Channel, and worked my way up from the end of the East Mole, I began laying out parts of what would become the “Long Quay”.
In this map shot, you can see the quay taking shape just below the approach ramps to the Kaiser Wilhelm bridge. I still haven’t filled in the area adjacent to the ramps, just in case my quay project got a bit bigger than planned. This map also gives you a pretty good idea of the layout of the “East Mole” in relation to the rest of the map.
On this map, the area of the Long Quay has been finished and I have begun filling in around the bridge ramps. I added a tugboat station just north of the quay to assist with berthing ships along its’ length. I’ve also placed the “Admiralty Building” and started filling in the landscape. Across the harbor, you can see a jumble of buildings I placed during testing to find a suitable building to house the Admiralty offices.
Note that I only “dig out” enough land for the project at hand, and have just now connected the “Turning basin” with the rest of the harbor. I always take care to make sure the water area of the harbor is sufficient to allow adequate “sea room” for tugs to “man-handle” the battleships. Most SC4 “harbors” are small, crowded, and give little thought to the difficulties of moving big ships about.
This overview of the “Long Quay” shows how the various buildings and hubs are arranged. On the right is a string of warehouses tasked with stocking everything needed to operate and maintain a battleship. From tinned foods and cold storage meat, to barrels of lubricating oil and grease, to spare parts and equipment such as binoculars, uniforms, and even a Navigator’s caliper. You will find similar warehouses scattered around the base – usually close to a warship mooring quay.
Down the center of the East Mole run four rail lines laid out so that through traffic as well as off-loading trains can be accommodated simultaneously. On either side of the tracks are loading docks. Trains bearing cargo designated for storage in the warehouses are shunted onto the pair of tracks on the right. Cargo to be off-loaded directly to the warships are shunted to the left side, where trucks will move it directly to quayside. And on the left of the mole are the mooring points along the Long Quay.
On the quayside are a variety of small warehouses, paint stores, machine shops, cable tiers, rope lofts, and assorted bits of cargo waiting to be hoisted aboard. There is a set of fuel oil tanks assigned to each mooring point, and connected to the warship. This allows them to spend long periods of time moored, if necessary, and maintain their steam pressure aboard the ship without depleting their fuel reserves. Coal-burning warships would be topped-off by lighters brought alongside.
From left to right – SMS Kaiser, SMS Kronprinz (1932), HMS Orion, and HMS Hood.
Two long, heavily laden freight trains unload into warehouse storage. The center concrete pads are Paeng’s – modified for people and lights. The warehouses are the PEG SNM Small Warehouse lots. The loading docks are the PEG CDK Modular piers, re-purposed for use on land. The crawler crane is a custom 1x2 lot. The steam locomotives are the PEG Switch Engine and Tank Engine modified to have “steam”.
This is a through-traffic freight headed north for the Kaiser Wilhelm bridge. (Two views.)
HMS Orion is moored at the quay taking on a variety of stores in crates, boxes, and barrels. While that is going on, her crew can make use of the workshops on the quayside
HMS Orion was the name ship of a class of four (Conqueror, Monarch, and Thunderer) launched in 1910 and 1911. They were the first British capital ships to make the transition from 12 inch guns to 13.5 inch. They were also the only class of dreadnoughts to have their mainmast (and rangefinder top) placed abaft the first funnel. Smoke interference made sighting and ranging extremely difficult and this was not continued in other classes.
The Orion’s were also the first class of British dreadnoughts to have all centerline main battery guns, with two turrets superimposed forward, and two more aft.
This class was an obvious increase in size and fighting power, and the British Press instantly dubbed them “Superdreadnoughts”.
This model is a personal favorite of mine. The detail is absolutely magnificent, with unquestioned accuracy and superb colors and textures -- courtesy of @Barroco Hispano. The model reflects the "classic" simplicity of the original design, while the class actually marked the end of the usual British habit of “muddling-up” a ship with too many eccentric features (note the previous Neptune Class).
Let’s turn to the Long Quay, itself...
This started life as a "PEG SNM Destroyer Pier" ( a 4x5 lot, if I remember correctly).
The actual “Long Quay” lot (as modified) extends between the water tower at bottom and the fuel tanks at top. Starting at the road in front, the first row is NBVC Container Port fence, the second row is mostly @T Wrecks industrial fillers (the flatbed trucks and forklift lots are mine), and the third row is NBVC concrete with tire tracks. Those are all filler pieces put together to compliment the quay lot. NOTE: NBVC’s Modular Container Port series is a “must have” item when building seaports or factories. The pieces, usually 1x1, are flexible, versatile, and easy to work with. Simple modifications can easily be preformed in LOT EDITOR. Needless to say, you can do yourself a big favor by downloading the @T Wrecks Industrial Filler / Add-on Sets -- just chocked full of small, supplemental, creativity !!
The actual “quay lot” is the row with the ramp, crates, and Quonset hut on it.
The pier portion over the water was rendered as an “overhanging prop” and sits half on and half off the “ploppable” row with the Quonset hut.
Using “Editor”, I took two of the PEG SNM destroyer piers, rotated them end to end, adjusted them in or out many times as I reduced the size of the 4x5 lot, and eventually wound up with a “quay” 16 squares long, resting on a 1x8 lot.
The “Long Quay” pictured in the game is composed of three lots plopped end to end, with a one square overlap. Instead of simple, boring repetition, the appearance of variety along the length of the quay is provided by the use of all those filler lots already mentioned.
HMS Hood is taking on supplies in this shot. Her length is much greater than the majority of the models and some of the harbor features had to be strictly tailored to her dimensions. (Another simply beautiful modeling and texture job.) It should be noted, that most of the warehouses seen along the quay are from “NOB” – a Japanese gamer. He did a beautiful little naval dockyard set some years ago for the 1905 period. Unfortunately, most of his lots were unusable because his “Pre-dreadnought” battleships were much smaller than these. But his warehouses and props are simply “golden”!
Just out in the main channel from the Long Quay, we see HMS Howe – a sister ship to HMS Hood. Everyone, of course, knows that Hood was a “one-off” – no sister ships. But – invoking “historical precedent” – I have included them. The original plan was for Hood to be the first ship of the Admiral Class of four (Anson, Howe, and Rodney). Fate, however, intervened – as it usually does.
Work on Hood had been delayed in order to incorporate lessons learned from the Battle of Jutland – and – to make sure this class of four ships would be able to handle the seven battlecruisers supposedly building in German yards. By the time work was started again, it was decided Hood would be slowly finished while the remaining three would be halted to allow labor and resources to be funneled into much needed merchant shipping and convoy escorts. At the end of the war, the Admiralty canceled them altogether – though all three names were eventually used on WWII era battleships.
In this scene, Howe is being helped to a temporary berth by a “Fleet Tug” and five “harbor tugs”. Howe is suffering from damage to her starboard steam turbine installation and is under tow with a Fleet tug leading, two Harbor Tugs trailing (to act as a “brake”), and two more nudging her bow toward the center of the channel. With one of Howe’s propellers shut down, it is proving difficult.
Many thanks to @WolfZe for posting an old-fashioned tug resembling the “Atlantic Salvage Tugs” of the 1940’s – made famous by Farley Mowat. And – for the gift of a beautiful little steam tug. They were exactly what I needed.
HMS Howe was recently accepted from the builder’s yard and has been undergoing “sea trials” to make sure she meets her contract specifications. High speed and tight maneuvers have obviously taken a toll.
It was not uncommon for steam turbines to malfunction when thrown into an “emergency reverse” situation, and usually resulted in the destruction of large numbers of turbine blades. (Think of a ship’s steam turbine as the jet engine of its’ day.) Howe will be anchored temporarily in the harbor channel until the “Fitting-Out Basin” becomes available to preform the tedious repair work.
Finally, behind the warehouses of the “Long Quay” is a statue of Otto von Bismarck – “The Iron Chancellor”. It had been placed there many years ago, in a rural setting with an imposing view of the Jade Estuary. As the naval base expanded and modernized, the decision was made to leave it there. “Otto”was cleaned up, landscaped, and included on escorted tours for the public.
Comments and critiques are requested and gratefully accepted. Questions answered promptly to the best of my ability.
THANK YOU for your visit !
Next time…...Dockyard Industry.
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