The first obstacle to retaining Royal Sovereign

If the Soviet Union kept Royal Sovereign after World War II, what would complicate modernizing her?

A useful modernization would first have to overcome severe deterioration, including three seized main turrets in the scrapping account recalled here.

Royal Sovereign would first need extensive repair before Soviet modernization could make her useful. The opening objection is the condition of her main turrets after service in northern waters. Alex Clarke recalls being told by someone involved in scrapping her that three turrets were stuck and the fourth could move only with alarming noise. That testimony makes the refusal to return her as much a question of concealing her condition as of retaining a serviceable battleship.