Norway no longer considered the ships suitable after the First World War because Gorgon had become too broad for the dry docks in her intended operating area. A battery of two 9.2-inch guns, four six-inch guns, lighter weapons, and anti-torpedo bulges would still have made her a powerful coastal-defence ship. At the First Battle of Narvik, a third Norwegian ship with that firepower might have forced the German destroyers to divide their attack. The result remains uncertain, but the scenario illustrates how a slow and unfashionable hull could still matter in confined coastal waters.
Notable Point · 22:09-23:45
Could a Gorgon-class monitor have changed Narvik?
A cautious Narvik counterfactual asks whether a broad, heavily armed Norwegian monitor could have complicated the German destroyers' 1940 attack.