The useful hypothetical places Vanguard inside the actual operational problem at San Carlos Bay. Her 15-inch guns could have supplied overwhelming naval gunfire to the Royal Marines ashore, with their elevation providing useful reach across the islands. Her lighter cannon could also have added a large volume of fire against aircraft approaching the anchorage. Several complementary gun layers would have contributed where the task force lacked both shore-support weight and sustained defensive fire.
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What HMS Vanguard could have done at San Carlos
The useful counterfactual role for Vanguard is not a missile duel but heavy shore bombardment and dense local anti-aircraft fire around the amphibious anchorage.