Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:14:39-2:15:57

R-class battleships guarding convoys from German raiders

The R class illustrates how a slower battleship could defeat a diversion simply by refusing to abandon the convoy it protected.

ConvoysLive Q&ARevenge Class BattleshipsScharnhorst Class BattleshipsWorld War II
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Question

How close did the R-class battleships come to catching German capital ships during the Second World War?

Short answer

Closer than the Germans preferred, because the slow battleship did not need to chase: it could remain with the convoy and force the raiders to approach its 15-inch guns.

Notes

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau could try to draw an escort away, but the convoy remained their objective. An R-class battleship did not need to win a chase if it stayed between the raiders and the merchant ships. The faster German ships then had to disengage or enter the range of 15-inch guns. Escort success came from protecting the convoy rather than matching the enemy's speed.