How would you modernize HMS Vanguard?
Short answerRemove aft guns for a helicopter facility and missiles, improve remaining guns and secondaries with radar fire control, and avoid sacrificing survivability for VLS capacity.
NotesThe suggested refit follows the broad logic of the Iowa conversions: remove aft armament to create a helicopter facility and space for modern weapons. Some secondary guns could make way for missiles, while retained artillery gains radar-directed fire control. The timing of the refit matters because vertical-launch systems would arrive later than the earliest plausible modernization. Any conversion should preserve survivability rather than simply packing the hull with missile cells.