Bruships: A Special - Questions/What ifs till the Bru runs out? (11)

Its original airframe did not suit the AEW role, and the Guppy conversion became an essentially new, unsuccessful aircraft.

Probably, if built during the war; their presence could have reshaped the case for retaining older cruisers and battleships.

They were seen as unexpectedly formidable, but treaty limits prevented an immediate American reply; later American designs reflected the wider competitive problem.

It could trigger an escalating loop, because Brazil's growth would itself change the powers Britain had to exceed.

The German battlecruisers could be badly mauled, and closer integration might improve British coordination, though it changes the command problem too.

Not necessarily; battle damage and its investigation could still feed valuable lessons into the redesign.

Malcolm Wright's World War II warship-camouflage series, with caution about the limits of reconstructed schemes.

Navies would likely exploit the gap by building many ships below the threshold, producing a larger destroyer race.

Yes, especially for San Carlos and gun combat, provided their automatic 6-inch mountings remained reliable.

Probably not; they would likely have been batch-built in pairs, with later ships using revised designs.

Britain would keep building, but distance, American opposition and regional diplomacy make a direct Anglo-Brazilian war less likely than economic or political pressure.

Yes in theory, but the hull would need redesigning to support the twelve-gun arrangement.

Navies would maximize each allowed hull, making N3-style 18-inch battleships and still larger successors likely.

It would likely become more cluttered and less coherent, because greater scale invites too many competing additions.

Both, together with Napoleon's order: his replacement would sail anyway, and success was Villeneuve's only route to professional redemption.

They would serve as convoy escorts and probably operate heavily in the Mediterranean, creating a celebrated Free French legacy.

Only by avoiding the post-Jutland redesign and building the Admirals substantially as first designed.

Engineers preferred degaussed steel, but trawlermen liked wooden hulls because they did not depend on degaussing discipline.

Yes, retained turret tooling could support a nine-gun design related to the King George V hull if funded early.

Creative accounting served treaty goals and could leave declared room for later modifications.

About £2.363 million, almost the £2.524 million cost of building her.

Britain and the United States would react sharply because Germany could not hide such a ship from British surveillance.

Capital-ship strength depends on numbers: a single ship is fragile, while larger groups create availability and resilience.

A rough tolerance was about ten percent, though the political meaning depended on how the excess was declared and used.

Its greatest value would be as an experienced command and fleet nucleus around which ABDA could organize and receive reinforcements.

Build it in a purpose-enlarged graving dock with enormous machinery, but several smaller capital ships would usually offer better operational utility.

No; Japan could already design more capable ships, even if Scharnhorst was among Germany's better large-warship efforts.

Only with a capable navy; in the Opium Wars the waterways instead helped British ships bring firepower against Chinese cities.

Britain shipped some parts, American yards made or substituted others, and differing standards complicated the work.

Not in normal condition; their draft was too deep without major lightening or canal dredging.

Yes; sister ships would make her a usable destroyer class, while an escort conversion could add several twin 4-inch mounts.

A force of Vanguard battleships, Tiger-class cruisers and Battle-class destroyers.

Around 1932, followed by continued County-class construction.

Later Lexington hulls become the carriers, producing fast groups that pair one carrier with one battlecruiser.

They would struggle because British crews knew the Type 42's weaknesses and could use electronic warfare to approach missile range.

Elswick, the established centre repeatedly used for new British naval guns.

The Iowa class and machine-gun cruisers, although the Iowas remained good designs and Yamato's unique 18-inch guns justify much of its fame.

A British battleship, preferably Repulse, because no Royal Navy capital ship survives to represent that fleet.

A great deal; its long dominance made its organization and traditions a common model around the world.

Yes, especially if numerous before 1939; small Swordfish groups could protect convoys and suppress surfaced U-boats.

A Swordfish-style biplane could suit night operations, but the later correction makes the Blackburn Blackburn a much stranger US Navy choice.

Professionalize the NCO and warrant-officer corps and create a path for talented ratings to become officers.

No; they began as large or Atlantic light cruisers and were later redesignated as heavy cruisers.

Britain studies everything and can adapt selected ideas, but period industry needs several years before simplified systems reach service.

Build and operate more graving docks large enough for carriers and other major ships, including overseas facilities.

Very well, and it could keep its torpedoes by replacing existing light anti-aircraft mounts rather than the tubes.

The modern ships dominate Jutland, likely destroy the High Seas Fleet and let Britain tighten the Baltic blockade.

Probably; her status supports retention and her lighter armour could make the reconstruction cheaper.

The Sherman's value came from repeatable production, maintenance and replacement rather than winning a contest of isolated specifications.

The master-at-arms, assisted by master's mates and a small disciplinary team.

Denmark and Portugal, with Denmark especially overshadowed by the attention given to Sweden.

Never, because Germany could not spare the resources to finish them.

Yes, with a settled 1934 design, paired annual orders and staged six-month turret-transfer periods.

Little additional time; the Royal Navy already had sufficient forces in theatre and could reinforce if American building continued.

Not necessarily; the weapons may be mechanically rugged while guidance remains less precise and satellite navigation remains vulnerable to jamming.

Britain would gain four light carriers alongside four armoured carriers, creating much more useful carrier groups.

Extremely vulnerable; working German torpedoes might have hit her five or six times and sunk her.

A Carthaginian one, because it could reveal both Carthage's navy and the deeper Phoenician tradition behind Mediterranean sea power.

They would be powerful but unbalanced glass cannons unless armour and propulsion were upgraded too.

They would be far newer and more capital-intensive, provided Japan found a way around the resource crisis that historically forced its hand.

The naval balance is closer, Allied armies are less ready and submarine warfare is much less mature, producing a different but still severe conflict.

Probably one Lion and one Vanguard, with Hood in refit and the King George Vs serving in the Mediterranean.

A South American visit is navigationally conceivable, but North America is less plausible and there is no basis here for claiming settlements.

Start with Slim on Burma and Andrew Boyd on the Eastern Fleet, then branch into specialist subjects.

Probably into the 1960s or later, with carriers gradually supplanting them through range rather than close-range killing power.

Very useful for speed and air-group size, but the navy would need at least two and preferably three.

Probably not; Italy would more likely choose larger guns in triple turrets than accept the complications of quads.

Much better; the reverse scenario, an early mass U-boat programme, would make the war substantially more dangerous.

Only as a supplement; collection cannot supply the enormous volume the boilers require.

Government naval engineers with the required expertise, responding to political requests rather than proposing an ordinary fleet programme.

Explosion pressure and violent hull movement can unseat the turrets before impact with the seabed.

Probably; Vickers aviation equipment suggests Admiralty funding may have supported undeclared work alongside legitimate ship-related contracts.

Japan's southern advance becomes harder and an Anglo-Australian-led command can organize the theatre around the surviving base.

It would likely become more integrated and rely on forward flotillas, mines and submarines while keeping capital ships less exposed.

Probably Holland, because Hood was due for refit while skilled senior officers were in short supply.

Britain remains a stronger and more independent second Western power, though the United States still holds the leading position.

Not directly, but papers repeatedly comparing other ships unfavourably with Tiger make the regret evident.

Treat them as slow coastal monitors or mobile gun platforms, not as ordinary battleships.

Only partly, because dangerous exploration still needs military protection and is safer with paired or grouped ships.

It reflects command responsibility and, often, a refusal to leave crew members who could not get off the ship.

It could become a powerful European bloc with combined armed forces, a large economy and a more integrated Commonwealth-style network.

Much harder at first, but Britain would probably attack the concentrated Italian fleet in port at a later date.

A beach offers location choice, clearer air-defence arcs and direct ramp use, while a port can expose ships and require slow crane unloading.

Compare the claim with past performance and cultural patterns, then test the characteristic area that the country tends to exaggerate.

In a dedicated large graving dock, with Devonport, Liverpool or another major port as plausible locations.

Japan would likely withdraw or return with more strength, buying time to reinforce Wake.

They became outdated quickly and carried major design compromises around the bulky Sea Slug system.

Dry dock is the broad term, a graving dock is a fixed excavated form, and a construction dock may add access designed for assembling large hull sections.

Read the evidence forward in time and reconstruct only the knowledge available to people at each moment.

Because Belfast survives and the class has memorable combat and economic-warfare stories associated with individual ships.

Yes; it is treated as political scapegoating similar to other wartime efforts to redirect blame.

Possibly one, presented as a limited expense and probably named Queen Elizabeth or Duke of Edinburgh.

Shell-manufacturing quality control was poor, so enforcing consistent ammunition standards was the essential remedy.

Treasury restraint was central, but faster delivery also required more trained shipbuilders and time to expand the workforce.

It tried naval bombing early, but the German fleet target had largely disappeared by the time the heavy-bomber force matured.

No; they were designed for mobile warfare and an eight-year life, not the radically different war they faced twenty years later.

It depends on politics, because the Malta fleet would preserve a powerful conventional carrier arm built around Buccaneers, Phantoms and Hawkeyes.

The Kiev class, because it was built around the badly limited Yak-38 Forger and became a cruiser with a flight deck attached.

Twelve 16-inch guns in peacetime without Yamato intelligence, but nine 18-inch guns if Britain knew the threat and expected war soon.

About six to eight months after a spring attack, with winter potentially adding another six months.

Probably about 24-27 capital ships overall, not the 48 produced by adding every regional headline request literally.

When promotion goes only to compliant officers and not to people willing to question power.

A full modern electronic-warfare suite, because optical fire control dominated before relevant electronic threats existed.