Royal Sovereign made two visits to the United States for extensive refit work. Those visits could not erase the wider modernization gap between the R-class and the Queen Elizabeth class. The older ships had not received comparable interwar machinery investment and remained less attractive Royal Navy assets. The transfer of Royal Sovereign to the Soviet Navy as Arkhangelsk gave the aging battleship a different wartime role under Allied arrangements.
Notable Point · 14:56-15:33
Royal Sovereign exposes the R-class modernization gap
American refits cannot overcome the R-class's lack of the interwar machinery work given to the Queen Elizabeths. Royal Sovereign later serves the Soviet Navy.