Q&A ยท 12:29-14:12

Royal Oak-style modernization for the R-class

Would Royal Oak-style upgrades have changed the wartime value of every R-class battleship?

Question

What if every R-class battleship received Royal Oak's prewar modernization?

Short answer

Their employment and the overall war would change little, but improved fire control and anti-aircraft capability would make them much more lethal in individual engagements.

Notes

Extending Royal Oak's modernization across the R-class would probably leave their wartime assignments and the overall course of the war much the same. The package would improve anti-aircraft capability and gunnery fire control, making the older battleships more dangerous in a surface action. Their fire control is compared with Warspite's as a measure of the improvement. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau might still win an engagement, but the chance of a pyrrhic victory would rise: one raider could be sunk or both could suffer damage severe enough to prevent their return home.