Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:27:51-2:28:23

Giving every Queen Elizabeth-class battleship the Warspite treatment

The preferred prewar refit would modernise all five ships and raise their speed toward 28 knots through new machinery.

BattleshipsHMS WarspiteModernisationQueen Elizabeth Class BattleshipsShip Propulsion
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Question

What additional prewar modification would most improve the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships?

Short answer

Modernise every ship along Warspite lines and replace the machinery to seek roughly 28 knots.

Notes

The answer prioritises machinery rather than a single additional weapon. Each Queen Elizabeth-class battleship would receive a broad reconstruction modelled on Warspite’s modernisation. New engines would aim to raise the class toward twenty-eight knots, improving its ability to operate with faster modern fleets. Achieving that across all five ships would require time and money, but the result would preserve a coherent group of useful capital ships rather than a mixture of heavily and lightly modernised sisters.