Parsons turbines, U.S. procurement, and German dependence
Turbine adoption depended on procurement politics and control of hard-to-copy components as well as access to a license.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Complete directory
Browse all time notes.
Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Why licensed Krupp and Harvey armour was not identical
Armour-process licenses spread a manufacturing method without guaranteeing that every national producer delivered equal protection.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Superfiring turret blast and sighting hoods
A detailed source discussion traces axial-fire restrictions from open sighting hoods through Neptune's periscopes and Hood's revised turret faces.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Peacetime firing limits versus wartime turret risk
Conservative exercise rules differed from combat decisions that might accept damage to a turret or light AA mounting to preserve the ship.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Why call pre-dreadnoughts Sovereign battleships?
The Royal Sovereign class provides a practical starting point for a battleship generation whose usual label is defined only by what came afterward.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Oil firing and an alternate fast-battleship fleet
A propulsion distinction opens a broader counterfactual about an 18-ship Royal Navy fast battle line and its effect on naval treaties.
From HMS Dreadnought: Key Ship Series 1 Ship 1 Comment Response ·
Why F3 is a better carrier basis than Nelson
The Nelson and Rodney hull is too slow for a fleet carrier, while the unbuilt 29-knot F3 battlecruiser offers a more plausible British common-hull starting point.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Why a standardized Scharnhorst fleet threatens Britain
The scenario trades Bismarck-style prestige for repeated Scharnhorst hulls, giving Germany more fast capital ships and carriers to divide British strength.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Atlantic weather makes hangar stowage decisive
A German carrier intended for the North Sea and North Atlantic must size its useful air group by protected hangar space because routine deck parking would sacrifice aircraft to the weather.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Range, cost, and yards make repetition plausible
Scharnhorst's speed and Atlantic reach combine with lower cost and compatibility across three major yards to support a repeat-production strategy.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Why the common hull stops at capital ships
Scaling the Scharnhorst scheme down to cruisers would lose much of its yard and machinery commonality, though Germany might still cancel the Hipper class to fund more standardized capital ships.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
A batch program could yield nine major ships
Successive batches of 11-inch battleships, 15-inch variants, and carriers could produce seven capital ships and two carriers by 1942.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Soryu and Shokaku make the common-hull carrier credible
Japanese carrier dimensions show that a 235-metre, 30-metre-beam Scharnhorst hull could carry a useful hangar-stowed air group without reproducing the oversized Graf Zeppelin.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Three hulls create continuous raider pressure
Three 11-inch fast battleships create a sustainable raiding capability because Germany can keep one deployed while the other two train, refit, or recover.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Treaties, crews, and Göring constrain the fleet
The program stays superficially defensible under treaty ratios, but trained crews and Luftwaffe control of carrier aircraft remain serious bottlenecks.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
France accelerates a fast raider-hunting force
German fast raiders make Joffre and the Dunkerque class more urgent as the core of a French carrier-and-capital-ship hunting group.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Why would France build Joffre at home?
National shipbuilding policy, domestic funding politics, and the expectation of a later war make an American-built French fleet carrier unlikely.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Britain accelerates AA escorts and King George V
Britain answers German carriers with AA-focused destroyers and answers fast battleships by rushing all five King George V-class ships.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
A dive-bombing sight may reveal an Admiralty workaround
Vickers' unexplained British-standard dive-bombing sight and vague Admiralty gunnery payments suggest, but do not prove, an effort to work around RAF control of naval aviation.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
German carriers reshape the Illustrious program
Deck-edge lifts and a larger follow-on order could give British armored carriers more aircraft without abandoning their protected-hangar concept.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would Britain rush light carriers into production?
Britain already has seven carriers and four Illustrious-class ships in train, so it can enlarge the Implacable and Unicorn follow-ons instead of improvising an early light-carrier program.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Could Germany support its carriers with supply ships?
Germany has disguised supply vessels, but yard limits make a purpose-built fleet train unlikely even when carrier operations need one.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would German carriers raid Britain?
A 42-aircraft carrier strike is too small for southern Britain, but raids against northern Scotland, Iceland, or convoys remain plausible.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Could Vanguard follow-ons reuse R-class turrets?
Britain has spare 15-inch barrels, but recovering complete turrets from a sunken R-class battleship would be the difficult part of arming another Vanguard-type ship.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Standardization trades perfection for production
The counterfactual works only if Germany resists constant redesign and accepts a merely adequate common platform across its armed forces.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would the United States expand battleship production?
Congressional funding and decision time delay any American reaction beyond the immediate North Carolina-class building cycle.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Could Germany begin with night carrier strikes?
A carrier commissioned in 1940 would need months or years of work-up before attempting night strikes with an inexperienced air group.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would Britain arm the Lions with 15-inch guns?
Britain can keep the planned 16-inch Lion armament because urgency would push the existing gun program forward rather than require a 15-inch substitute.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Exercises conceal the danger to destroyers
Pilots chase high-value capital ships in exercises, but in war they may attack the easier destroyer, strengthening the case for twin 4-inch high-angle weapons.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Why prewar Britain still wants fleet carriers
Before Norway and France fall, British planners need fast fleet units to contain Germany in the North Sea, not escort carriers for an Atlantic crisis they do not foresee.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Hitler's caution may waste the extra prewar hull
A third Scharnhorst-class ship creates the capacity for continuous raiding, but Hitler's fear of losing prestige ships makes an early Atlantic deployment unlikely.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Norway becomes a carrier-and-battleship fleet action
Five fast capital ships and a carrier turn the Norwegian campaign into a probable fleet battle, but German torpedoes, escorts, and work-up standards remain weak points.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
A German carrier changes how Britain risks its own
Knowing Germany has a carrier discourages exposed anti-submarine patrols and pushes the Royal Navy toward paired carriers with fast capital-ship escorts.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
German and British carrier doctrine diverge
Japanese advice could orient Germany toward an alpha strike, while British carriers emphasize continuous patrols and organic reconnaissance.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would the Norway battle resemble Cape Matapan?
The comparison fits because the hypothetical action follows Royal Navy doctrine: carrier damage slows the enemy, then surface forces close under favorable conditions.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would French rearmament trigger a wider naval race?
French and British acceleration need not trigger unlimited escalation because Italy and Japan are already near industrial limits and Britain mainly advances existing programs.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
The 11-inch ships screen the Norway formation
Putting the three 11-inch ships ahead and on the wings protects the carrier and 15-inch ships, but exposes the first batch to the earliest attacks and losses.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Where are Germany's heavy cruisers during Norway?
The heavy cruisers retain their historical dispersed invasion assignments rather than joining the Scharnhorst-centered battle group.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would Japan enter the European war for Germany?
Japan's alliance does not make its strategy subordinate to Berlin, while the recent Soviet-Japanese fighting illustrates how Asian commitments shaped the timing of European decisions.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Britain adds coastal torpedo craft to sea denial
More German fast capital ships could prompt additional British motor torpedo boats as a cheap layer of coastal sea denial.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
A German fleet defeat frees Britain and strains Italy
An early destruction of Germany's heavy fleet would release British ships for other theaters and make Italy's struggle for naval fuel harder inside the Axis.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Operation Berlin faces an enlarged British trap
A carrier and two 15-inch raiders remain formidable in 1941, but British patrols and reinforced hunter groups make damage and destruction increasingly likely.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Could Germany win by destroying one hunter group?
Even a German tactical victory can become a strategic defeat if battle damage slows the raiders long enough for Britain's other carrier-and-capital-ship groups to converge.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Fi 167 speed does not guarantee air superiority
The Fieseler Fi 167 is faster than the Swordfish on paper, but payload conditions, British fighters, and actual production numbers complicate the comparison.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would a British foothold in Norway keep Chamberlain in office?
Chamberlain could still fall, but a major naval victory and surviving Norwegian foothold make the political outcome less certain.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
A common barbette makes 15-inch conversion possible
The scenario assumes the triple 11-inch and twin 15-inch turrets share a barbette interface, allowing a surviving hull to be rearmed without redesigning the ship.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
U-boats cannot keep pace with the raider battle
Submarines cannot reliably rescue a fast surface group because they are slow submerged and conspicuous when they sprint on the surface.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·
Would RAF bombing stop the building program?
British raids remain a threat to German ports, but the historical completion of Bismarck and Tirpitz shows that bombing alone does not erase the common-hull program.
From Patreon 89: Everything a Scharnhorst - Germany standardises on one hull for Capital ships & Carriers ·