Q&A · 2:52:18-2:54:29

Richelieu-class battleships in 1914 would overturn Mediterranean and Jutland assumptions

An alternate-history question gives France a Richelieu-class replacement fleet in July 1914 and asks how the naval war changes.

Question

What if every French battleship, explicitly including the pre-dreadnoughts, became a Richelieu-class ship in July 1914?

Short answer

Austria-Hungary would be outclassed, Jutland could become disastrous for German scouting forces, and Britain would likely rush powerful new fast battleships in response.

Notes

Austria-Hungary would be badly outclassed in the Mediterranean by a French fleet of Richelieu-class ships. If some appeared in the North Sea, their speed and heavy guns could make the First Scouting Group's position at Jutland far worse. The follow-up explicitly includes pre-dreadnoughts as well as dreadnoughts, which would create a fleet so large that the Royal Navy would panic and order the fastest heavy ships its yards could manage. Second World War performance inserted into 1914 distorts every navy's plan and makes the counterfactual difficult to contain. The suggested British response is a 28-knot battleship with fifteen 15-inch guns, near the practical limit assumed for this scenario.