Q&A · 2:16:06-2:16:24

Dominion capital-ship transfers were possible, not planned

The Royal Navy had no established plan to transfer its 13.5-inch-gunned capital ships to the Dominions, though the idea might have emerged if it became practical in the 1920s.

Question

Did the Royal Navy plan to transfer its 13.5-inch-gunned capital ships to the Dominions?

Short answer

Not as a standing policy, although Britain might have considered transfers in the 1920s if the arrangement became viable.

Notes

There was no standing Royal Navy plan to sell its 13.5-inch-gunned battleships or battlecruisers to the Dominions. A transfer might have been explored during the 1920s if political and financial conditions made it viable. Even then, planners would have to decide which of the surviving ships Britain could release. The answer separates a plausible interwar option from a policy that the Admiralty had actually adopted.