Q&A · 4:32:50-4:36:21

Six fast Soviet battleships in 1935

Six game-derived Soviet battleships in 1935 create a hypothetical challenge to treaty limits and rival capital-ship plans.

Question

What if the Soviet Navy received six Slava-style battleships and the infrastructure to sustain them in 1935?

Short answer

The predicted result is the collapse of treaty assumptions and changes to rival designs, with the supplied industrial base allowing further Soviet construction.

Notes

The hypothetical gives the Soviet Navy six World of Warships Slava-style battleships and the infrastructure to sustain them in 1935. The participants work with a fast ship carrying nine 16-inch guns, while disagreeing over aspects of its design lineage and plausibility. Clarke expects this force to undermine the assumptions behind the Second London Naval Treaty and the 14-inch King George V design. Scharnhorst and the Deutschland class would face a much more dangerous combination of speed and firepower, while Yamato's slower speed becomes a concern in the Japanese comparison. The accompanying industrial capacity matters because it allows more ships to follow the initial six.