Generic River Patrol Boat, TL6
This is a design from my Dinosaur Island minicampaign. The boats were built locally, starting in 1936, with manufactured parts (like the engines and props) brought in by submarine. Eleven were built, with eight still in service when the German garrison was destroyed. They were used not only to keep clear the river the U-boats used to reach the main base after traversing the underwater cavern, but to scout the coastline of the large inner lake (this is the primary reason for their oversized radio equipment). They were equipped with oars in case of engine failure, although if a U-boat was available it would be sent to tow the boat back. A boat on patrol routinely carried six marines (sailors with hasty infantry training; see p.W75). This was actually better than carrying six regular infantry, since the sailors could fill in for the regular crew if required.
The boat was laid out with the two MGs just behind the bow, one to each side. Underneath the MGs was the cargo hold, with a hatch up another into the crew compartment. Next was the crew compartment, with the helmsman (port) and commander (starboard) in front of the rowing stations. Behind that was the fuel tank and engine. The 20mm cannon was on a pedestal mount over the engine, with hatches to the engine to the port and starboard of the mount.
The minimum crew was three men: commander (who also operated the radio), helmsman (who also operated the searchlight) and mechanic (who also manned the 20mm cannon). If marines were carried, two of them would crew the MG34's while any others would ride as passengers at the rower's stations. The commander, helmsman and four rowers had a frame with a removable canvas top. The boat uses 0.4 gallons of diesel per hour. At a speed of 6 mph, this gives a range of 450 miles.
Subassemblies: Medium Boat chassis with Wooden option +3, two
Mini Weapon open mounts #3-4 +0
P&P: 10 kW marine diesel w/10-kW screw propellor, 4-man
rowing station, 30-gallon standard fuel tank; 4000-kW batteries
Occ: 9 XCS
Cargo: 5.3
| Armor | All | |
| Body | 3/5W |
Armament
Ground LMG/MG34 [OM1:F] (1000)
Ground LMG/MG34 [OM2:F] (1000)
20mm Long Ground Autocannon/FlaK30 [OM3:F] (90)
Equipment
Body: large radio transmitter and very large radio reciever,
bilge pump, ragtop option for 6 crewstations, 40 man/days provisions. OM1-3:
Universal mounts. OM4: Searchlight, universal mount
Statistics
| Size: 35'x7'x5' | Payload: 1.2 tons | Lwt: 9290 lbs (4.65 tons) |
| Volume: 47 | Maint.: 140 hours | Price: $2,050 |
HT: 12
HP: 375 [body], 30 [open mount #3]
under diesel engine
| wSpeed: 9 | wAccel: 0.3 | wDecel: 2 | wMR: 0.1 | wSR: 3 | Draft: 1.7' |
under oars
| wSpeed: 5 | wAccel: 0.1 | wDecel: 2 | wMR: 0.1 | wSR: 3 | Draft: 1.7' |
Design Notes
Armor is wooden. The open mounts for the MGs are sufficently light
enough for their cost and weight to be ignored. The MVDS doesn't have masts
and sails, so I used rowers instead. I may at some point go back and add
a small square sail using VE2 rules.
Variants
Some boats replaced the autocannon with a 81mm mortar. A heavier autocannon
was generally not needed to deal with the locals, although the 3.7 cm FlaK36
or (later) captured 47mm French SA-35 or 45mm Soviet M-1932 AT guns (all
in non-universal mounts) could technically be mounted.
This boat can easily be used for WWI, WWII and the period inbetween. In most cases, the radio equipment will be smaller (medium reciever and transmitter). That leaves only changing the armament. This is easily done (swapping the MG34's for the nation's primary LMG).