How would eight Revenge-class ships and additional retained battlecruisers affect the Royal Navy by 1939?
Short answerThey would provide enough capital ships for several battle squadrons and wider fast-ship deployments, while encouraging faster reconstructions and fast Nelson-class designs.
NotesFourteen 15-inch battleships, Nelson and Rodney, and four battlecruisers would give the Royal Navy twenty capital ships before the King George V class arrived. That force would strengthen the case for faster Nelsons and more extensive Queen Elizabeth reconstructions. Several battle squadrons could cover home waters and the Mediterranean while battlecruisers moved among the Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indian Ocean. Wider coverage would increase the chance that German surface raiders met a British capital ship early in the war.