Refit: Beam and Draught

[TheFurTrapper]

Why can I change the beam and draught when refitting, but not the displacement? All three seem to require structural changes to the hull? Draught I suppose can be explained by the ship riding with a lower freeboard - I think this should be the only available option. But if I can change the hull to increase the beam, why not change the design displacement while I'm at it?

[Suribachi]

This was actually something I brought up a while back.  Since the displacement is sub-divided into multiple tiers or sections where the hull drastically changes, what makes sense to me as a player is to be able to freely adjust the displacement size as long as it is within that sub-section.

[TheFurTrapper]

Yeah that would be nice too. Are there any examples of ships having their hulls widened or lengthened while in drydock? Not counting torpedo blisters and ships that lost bows due to battle damage.

[Panzergraf]

2 hours ago, TheFurTrapper said:

Yeah that would be nice too. Are there any examples of ships having their hulls widened or lengthened while in drydock? Not counting torpedo blisters and ships that lost bows due to battle damage.

The Kongos were lengthened a bit during one of their refits. I don't know of any ships having their beams widened other than by installing torpedo bulges though. I imagine it would be a much more complicated procedure than lengthening a ship.

For reference, some images of a cruise ship being lengthened.
https://maritime-executive.com/article/photos-fincantieri-begins-first-ever-cruise-ship-lengthening
 

[Masonator]

 You can get around this by making a new design using the same name and hull as the ship you want to refit.  Save the new design and create a refit for it, and you'll be able to apply it to the old ships as expected (provided that the class name and hull used are identical).  I'm pretty sure this is intentional to help offset the spacing problems caused by changing turret models as tech advances.

 If it's not intentional, please keep it, because it helps offset the huge spacing problems caused by changing turret models as tech advances.

[Suribachi]

20 hours ago, TheFurTrapper said:

Yeah that would be nice too. Are there any examples of ships having their hulls widened or lengthened while in drydock? Not counting torpedo blisters and ships that lost bows due to battle damage.

Yes, HMS Warspite was refit in 1937 where her beam would go from 90 ft 7 in (27.6m) increasing to a new beam of 104 ft (31.7m). 

Interestingly though, her displacement actually went down overall from 32,590 long tons (33,110 tonnes) to a new low of 31,315 long tons (31,818 tonnes).  Admittedly, this is probably just what the new equipment weighed and was not indicative of the hull not being able to support more weight after the refit.

EDIT:  Her draught was also lowered by 8 inches as well.

Edited August 21, 2024 by Suribachi

[TheFurTrapper]

14 hours ago, Masonator said:

 You can get around this by making a new design using the same name and hull as the ship you want to refit. <snip>

Yeah, that is nice to have when you need it. Really though, you should have more control over what aspects you modernize rather than having all the guns forced up in mark.

52 minutes ago, Suribachi said:

Yes, HMS Warspite was refit in 1937 where her beam would go from 90 ft 7 in (27.6m) increasing to a new beam of 104 ft (31.7m). 

What a refit that was, taking 3 years! So not impossible, but not probably not something that you'd be doing all the time. I think the longest refit I've seen in game was 6 months, maybe 7. Probably not possible to get this level of detail in the game, so I guess it stays as implemented for now.