How Soviet battlecruisers could reshape Western fleets

How would the West have responded if Soviet battleships or battlecruisers entered service by about 1960?

Britain and the United States likely would have retained and upgraded their own capital ships and sustained carrier construction.

Even a small Soviet battlecruiser force would probably have driven a substantial Anglo-American response. HMS Vanguard and the Iowa class would likely have remained in service rather than being discarded on their historical timetable. Modernization would have made those existing hulls part of the immediate answer while new construction was considered. The perceived surface threat could also have protected British carrier procurement because carriers and retained capital ships addressed different parts of the problem.