Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 4:04:23-4:06:39

Every Royal Navy light cruiser becomes HMS Plymouth

Replacing every Royal Navy light cruiser with a sixteen-gun HMS Plymouth would transform the River Plate, Norway, and the Mediterranean, with manpower becoming a problem later in the war.

Battle Of The River PlateCruisersFictional Warships (World of Warships)Naval GunneryNorwegian CampaignRadarRoyal NavyTown Class Light Cruisers (1936)World Of Warships
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Question

What changes if every Royal Navy light cruiser becomes a World of Warships-style HMS Plymouth on 1 January 1939?

Short answer

Britain gains much stronger gun, radar, and director capabilities before the war; early manpower is manageable, though sustaining the larger cruisers becomes harder as wartime demands grow.

Notes

In this game-derived counterfactual, two sixteen-gun Plymouths replace the Leander-class cruisers at the River Plate. The radar and late-war or postwar anti-aircraft directors supplied with them would also strengthen the fleet against German aircraft in Norway and in the Mediterranean. Foxo raises the problem of sustaining the much larger cruisers. Clarke distinguishes manpower in 1939 from the shortages later in the war, when the Navy competed with Army demands in Europe, North Africa and Burma. The 1 January 1939 arrival also gives the Royal Navy several months before the outbreak of war to organize the crews.