Today we're continuing to look at developments in European aerial warship design. The two biggest powers in Eastern Europe are the empires of Austria-Hungary and Russia, and both continue to develop their substantial air fleets. Following some severe reverses against the Japanese in the Far East, Russia has been putting significant resources into building up its battleship squadrons with newer vessels, and one of the results has been the Evstafi class of dreadnoughts. Unlike some of Russia's earlier classes the Evstafis have significant secondary armament in fully rotating turrets; previous vessels have their secondary armament in casemates with limited traverse. Another weakness in the Russian fleet is a lack of scouting and communications ability, so the vessels were lengthened compared to the previous Borodinos to accommodate an aircraft catapult amidships. Room has also been found for a small maintenance workshop ahead of the aft pair of funnels.
It is not believed that any Evstafis have yet joined the southern fleets; most have been sent to the Far East with the others retained in the home fleets in the west of the country. So they have yet to encounter the new Austrian Vielfrass (Wolverine) class of dreadnoughts currently entering service. Different in design to other Austro-Hungarian capital ships, the Vielfrass class has an arrow-head profile that allows all of the ship's main armament to fire directly forward in a head-on encounter. The widely separated steering vanes and powerful engines also give them a good degree of maneuverability.
VAN-518 – Evstafi class Dreadnought – £8.00 GBP
VAN-717 – Vielfrass class Dreadnought – £8.00 GBP