However, growing concern over protection of shipping from the Congo Colony and its proximity to European thoroughfares presented a risk of feasible European battleship confrontation given the large number of neighboring colonies and its short hopping route from Europe.
This left enemy ACRs and large merchant conversions as the early threat and only threats that could keep up with the Louisianian main fleet. Under naval law, the Congress would not fund any vessel larger than an ACR, as such the navy had consisted mostly of monitors and armored cruisers, and being that battleships up to this point generally were slow and short ranged there was little threat of European battleships appearing off the Straits of Florida and Yucatan Channel. Her life started as plans for an ACR to counter the growing threat of large converted liners capable of going 20-22 knots for days on end. Laid in 1905 but commissioned in 1908, Meurthe was the third Aveyron class vessel. The ship could reach 18 knots on 2 engines (2 shafts) and 6 coal fired boilers. In addition to that, the ship was armed with 4 150mm guns and 10 75mm gun mountings. This meant that the engine room was wedged between 2 boiler rooms and the 2 single 28cm turrets were placed forward, with the battle conning tower wedged in between. Thanks to the tactical advantage the Dutch ship would have in those (home) waters, it was decided to give the ship an focussed forward firepower arc for the main weapons. So, it was proposed to build a ship that was not much bigger then the armoured cruisers already in service, but had the guns and armour to deny more powerful ships the use of the waters of the Dutch East Indies. This meant a problem, because the Dutch wished to remain neutral in any conflict in the area, which was impossible if you could not at least deny other nations the use of your waters and ports. Their facilities and funding did not allow a much larger ship to be operated though, so there was little chance of actually opposing enemy battleships. They had vast colonies in the east indies, protected by light armoured cruisers, but their possible opponents had battleships. This might hurt my chances in the challenge, but it was fun to think out and draw. I decided to take a Dutch real life ship that was already barely a pre-dread, and decided I wanted a different arrangement. I have now forgotten who were the people discussing this, and it does not matter, but since I am known for doing unconventional stuff. When the requirements for this challenge were set, there were some complaints that all the ships would get the same arrangement due to 'too restrictive' rules, and there would be no room for creativity in this challenge.
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