Q&A · 1:28:50-1:31:35

How quickly a Lion-class battleship might enter service

A construction estimate uses King George V as the benchmark for a Lion-class completion without the wartime capital-ship pause.

Question

When might a Lion-class battleship have entered service if capital-ship construction had not been paused?

Short answer

About early 1943 on a peacetime schedule, or potentially spring 1942 with sustained wartime construction effort.

Notes

King George V's build time can be adjusted for the wartime pause and for the learning cost of restarting battleship construction after a long gap. Applied to Lion's 1939 laying-down date, that produces an outside estimate around February 1943 under peacetime practice. Extra wartime shifts could pull availability forward into roughly spring 1942.