What if two Littorio-class battleships were at Denmark Strait, either with Britain or against it?
Short answerThey would be dangerous combatants, but Britain would scale its hunting force to the larger threat rather than repeat the historical deployment.
NotesIf Littorio-class ships replaced Hood and Prince of Wales, Bismarck would face well-protected opponents with more reliable completed gun systems than the still-working-up Prince of Wales. Reversing the substitution also changes British planning. Intelligence that two modern Italian battleships were breaking out would not produce the same two-ship interception force. Britain would likely assemble three or four capital ships and carrier reconnaissance, illustrating again that counterfactual ships alter the operational response around them.