The White Elephant in the Room
‘Is this accurate, or just an intelligence man with an active imagination?’, said the bluff, straight-talking Admiral, whose job would soon to be to supervise the construction of the US Navy’s latest battleships and cruisers.
‘No Sir, this is correct information. We’ve had rumours for some time, but the photographs and now this first-hand evidence all point to the same conclusion; the battlecruiser Furious has 18-inch guns.’
There was a muffled expletive from the end of the table, at which the Admiral glanced sharply around. He wouldn’t tolerate swearing in his command … except when he did it himself.
Mr Kramer, the representative of the Ordnance Department continued,
‘We also have suggestions that both Britain and Japan are working on 19-inch or 20-inch guns.’
‘Those are only speculative’, interrupted another voice, ‘let’s stick to the facts.’
‘OK…’, Kramer hesitated before continuing, ‘Furious has 18-inch guns, and we have obtained photographs of their newest battleship, still under construction, which seem to show the barbettes are the same size. Definitely bigger than their 15-inch, so it seems more than likely that she’ll have 18-inch when they finish her next year.’
‘How sure are you of this – I mean, you guys were wrong about Hood. You reckoned she’d have 16.5”, and yet the plans showed she had the same 15-inch gun they’d been using for years. Now you’re claiming an older ship has bigger guns…?’.
There were a series of sceptical murmurs from around the room.
‘There’s no doubt’, replied Kramer, ‘although it was blind luck. One of our Ordnance guys was liaising with their Navy, and he saw it clear as day; labelled 18-inch shells being loaded at Rosyth. They were taller than him, so I regret there’s no doubt, gentlemen.’
From his place at the head of the table, Admiral Taylor, the current Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair had been observing and listening thoughtfully.
‘So there we have it gentlemen’, he intoned slowly, ‘however unpleasant the truth may be.’
He paused to look around the room.
‘The British have a capital ship with 18-inch guns, and probably another about to complete. We have yet to complete our first ship with 16-inch.’
Several men clearly wanted to speak, but Taylor waved them aside.
‘Yes, yes, gentlemen, I know what you’re going to say. The South Dakota will have twelve of our new 16-inch Mark 2, but I say again; they have this ship in service, South Dakota has only just been laid down.’
Admiral Taylor’s soon-to-be replacement would have felt sorry for his predecessor, if he hadn’t sensed the opportunity before him. Taylor had supervised the construction of most of the Navy’s current battlefleet; tough, well-armed ships, with enough speed to match most of their foreign contemporaries. Now however, if the US needed a new Navy, he would be the man to build it.
‘So, Sir, you believe we’ve been “Dreadnoughted” again? Everything we have will soon be obsolete?’
‘I don’t believe that’s the case. We have a solid, modern fleet; more modern than the British. It’s a question of we do next – what you will do, where you’re in this chair, John.
Furious is clearly a one-off, a prototype, and our C&R engineers have calculated she must have very light armour. If we assume she’s about 40,000 tons, they can’t see how she can have more than 9” armour; which fits, given what we know about Hood. We also know the British still favour layers of deck plating – wrongly, in my view – but their hull forms are excellent. I’d believe Furious was good for 32 knots, probably more.’
He paused thoughtfully, and to make sure everyone in the room was paying close attention.
‘Yes, ahh … The greater threat, to my mind, is this new ship, ahh… Rodney, they call her. She appears to be similar to Hood, but with a more compact citadel and larger guns. We had plenty of hints when they were over here during the war that they wanted to move towards heavier armour, and if they’ve sacrificed speed for firepower as well, then Rodney could be quite a ship.
Our people have taken what they know about Hood and worked on it. Worst case, Rodney could have 18-inch guns, armour about as good as South Dakota, and still make 25 or 26 knots.’
Taylor was well aware that there were several politically minded men in the room today, who might have their own angles to play. As if on cue, one of them chose this moment to speak,
‘So you’re saying the ships you’re laying down now are already obsolete, and you don’t know what the British will have by the time we finish them…’
Such a black interpretation of the facts had to be stamped on; it was the sort of dumb summary that could easily resonate in Washington, where it could do untold damage to the Navy’s reputation.
‘No, I am most definitely not saying that!’, Taylor said firmly,
‘We at C&R have already studied more powerful ships, including an improved South Dakota; we can build better scouts and we can match their latest destroyers.’
Nodding towards Mr Kramer, he added, ‘Ordnance are already working on an 18-inch gun… But, at two battleships or battlecruisers a year, we will always be in second place.’
He could see his words were having an effect, so he drove them home,
‘If the United States wants the greatest fleet in the world, we can deliver, but it will take ten years and Congress has got to start paying for it.’