Illustrious-Class missile battlecruiser.

Launched: 1925, Reconstructed as BCG: 1956

Armament: 4x2 16" main guns, 6 5.25" DP guns, 12 sextuple 40mm AA mounts, 1 twin arm "Javelin" anti-ship cruise missile launcher, 4 twin arm "Archer" surface to air missiles.

Armour: Belt: 13" deck: 6" turret faces: 16" barbettes: 14"

History: The Illustrious class gave good account of itself in the Second World War, though the Indomitable would be sunk during the course of the war. Nevertheless, after the war concluded the elderly warships were beginning to show their age. Furthermore, the Indefatigable had her superstructure heavily damaged by air attack in the last months of the war, and was sidelined for repairs since then. By 1947, despite protests to the Admiralty by Admiral Radford, CO of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, all three were laid up in mothballs, with scrapping being planned for the not too distant future.

Despite this, Redford would continue to pressure the Admiralty that these ships still had value. Pointing out their considerable speed and firepower that was comparable to most newer warships. He would find salvation for his prized battlecruiser fleet from an unlikely ally, the Bureau of Weapons Development. They were working on developing ship-based missiles, and required a testbed for new designs, with the intent of eventual installation on the far more modern Lion-class battleship. Redford was able to convince BuWeps of the value of the large, fast battlecruisers as ideal test platforms, as their size and speed meant that they could be viable warships if the conversions were successful. (And failure would only mean the loss of some elderly old battlewagons from the '20s)

Thus, in 1953, the first two ships, Illustrious and Intrepid, would be taken in for a moderate modernization that is shown here. The damaged Indefatigable meanwhile would receive a far more drastic refit, with an all-new superstructure and losing many of her guns. (Will post eventually, think something like USS Albany) The amidships turret would be removed, with the magazine and barbette used for missile storage, and the twin arm Javelin launcher placed in the turret's place. The whole secondary armament would be removed and replaced with modern weaponry, including four medium-range SAM launchers. The engines would be refitted, and a plethora of new radar and sensing equipment added to the superstructure. Illustrious and Intrepid would emerge from their refit in early 1956, and the two modernized warships would prove themselves valuable additions to the fleet, despite their advanced age.

The lessons learnt from their refit would also be incorporated in the design of the new Royal Sovereign-class of missile battleship.
Controls:

to maneuver, throttle for ahead, brake for aster, and roll to turn.

AG1 arms main guns
AG2 activates forward main guns traverse
AG3 activates aft main guns traverse
AG4 activates secondary guns and SAM launchers
AG5 activates cruise missile launcher
VTOL for traverse, Trim for elevation on all weapons
Landing Gear reverses the rotation of the radar dishes
Missiles are 360 degree targeting, so just arm them and fire! However they work better if you aim them at their target. The cruise missiles need some positive elevation to function, but you don't need to aim them vertically.

Bit of a rehash of an existing design, but also a fun "What if?" for modernizing an interwar warship with first generation missiles. The missiles, main, and secondary guns are all fully functional, the 40mm AA guns are static. The missiles are only a single salvo’s worth. The twin arm launchers would reload with a new missile passed up through the black squares below them, but I cannot make a working reloading system for that in SP. Not that this ship lacks any firepower. Also, if you do decide to reverse the direction of the radars, the torque from them reversing rather amusingly makes the whole ship jump a bit! I think I'll try a destroyer next, and also have some WWII era battleships in the works, though I make no promises on when I'll have those out. Cheers!