My own thinking is about as follows. I am working as the Netherlands and assuming that all the ships I order take the place of historic Dutch ships, so no ships built by the Netherlands after 1930 are available for my use.
I am buying British because they have a decent all around mix of ships in each category. America will have a few BBs available in the early 30s they scrapped historically, but they arent great, better than what I may get off the French or Italians, and good luck getting the IJN to part with anything. The British are also building consistently good cruisers in the period, have a large surplus of destroyers I may be able to pick from, and build a large number of good submarine classes.
Battleships
Britain is scrapping the Iron Dukes in the early 1930s, so I can probably get two of them without issue. While not as powerful as the latest and greatest ships in the major navies they are about average compared to the majority of battleships. Two of them will make me probably the strongest navy in the world after the treaty signatories. The only other real options are the USS North Dakota and USS Florida in the US, but these are two separate classes, slow, and are only armed with 12in guns.
Cruisers
The County class is only recently out of production so I could probably order a pair of them, failing that go with a pair of Leanders, they are often lambasted today but were decent little ships that could do decent work. If I have to buy ships being scrapped then go for some Town or C class ships. Other nations are offering some capable cruisers in the new but based on existing category, and I do like the Italian and French ships, but I am sticking with British.
Destroyers
I can likely nab some V&W class off the RN, failing that go for some of the S class. Both will be probably too small for service as destroyers in WWII, but will allow me to have some decent second line units for escort work and ASW use, or as fast minelaters. Yeah the Clemson class is good, and large numbers are available, but I am sticking with British designs. Not sure what the French, Italians, or Japanese are offering in the used destroyer game but its not fantastic I am sure.
Submarines
The British are building the Rainbow class at the moment and they are decent for open ocean work, four of them would be very nice. Otherwise nab some US fleet boats like the S class.
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Now that gives me a decent little fleet of ships. As the Netherlands the only ships I would have historically would be the two Java class and eight Admiralen class destroyers that would still be of any use by WWII except a few submarines here and there. Now onto my 1935 purchasses.
Battleship rebuild
I am going to go all in for the rebuilds. Conversion to oil fired small tube boilers to bring their speed up, drop Q turret for more power to get them up to 27-28 knots (dont think 30 is doable but maybe it is) and add to their armor and torpedo defense. Swap their secondary batteries to some DP gun, I would honestly accept RN 4in guns for use as heavy flak. If possible buy either Iron Duke or Tiger as a third ship in my little squadron and give them a similar treatment.
Cruisers
By this point I know its boring to go the British route, but I really do like the Towns and they should compliment my Leander/County class ordered earlier nicely. The US cruisers are pretty good as well, the Italian and Japanese ships are a bit overloaded, and the French are...well French.
Destroyers
A part of me says TRIBALS!!! But they wont be laid down until next year, so instead I am going to go with the G and H class, which loads of navies operated in some numbers anyways and also HMS Glowworm. British destroyers were a bit on the small end by this point, but servicable enough, and not as top heavy as US, and Japanese ships. The French are again...French, and the Italian ships are just about as light but I have so far gone all British so why not continue.
Submarines
Probably the British S class is going to be ordered in numbers. The US has some very good subs available though, and really so does Italy. But again I am in a British rut and hopefully by this point have a good working relationship with UK yards, probably a frequent buyer discount too.
I am buying British because they have a decent all around mix of ships in each category. America will have a few BBs available in the early 30s they scrapped historically, but they arent great, better than what I may get off the French or Italians, and good luck getting the IJN to part with anything. The British are also building consistently good cruisers in the period, have a large surplus of destroyers I may be able to pick from, and build a large number of good submarine classes.
Battleships
Britain is scrapping the Iron Dukes in the early 1930s, so I can probably get two of them without issue. While not as powerful as the latest and greatest ships in the major navies they are about average compared to the majority of battleships. Two of them will make me probably the strongest navy in the world after the treaty signatories. The only other real options are the USS North Dakota and USS Florida in the US, but these are two separate classes, slow, and are only armed with 12in guns.
Cruisers
The County class is only recently out of production so I could probably order a pair of them, failing that go with a pair of Leanders, they are often lambasted today but were decent little ships that could do decent work. If I have to buy ships being scrapped then go for some Town or C class ships. Other nations are offering some capable cruisers in the new but based on existing category, and I do like the Italian and French ships, but I am sticking with British.
Destroyers
I can likely nab some V&W class off the RN, failing that go for some of the S class. Both will be probably too small for service as destroyers in WWII, but will allow me to have some decent second line units for escort work and ASW use, or as fast minelaters. Yeah the Clemson class is good, and large numbers are available, but I am sticking with British designs. Not sure what the French, Italians, or Japanese are offering in the used destroyer game but its not fantastic I am sure.
Submarines
The British are building the Rainbow class at the moment and they are decent for open ocean work, four of them would be very nice. Otherwise nab some US fleet boats like the S class.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now that gives me a decent little fleet of ships. As the Netherlands the only ships I would have historically would be the two Java class and eight Admiralen class destroyers that would still be of any use by WWII except a few submarines here and there. Now onto my 1935 purchasses.
Battleship rebuild
I am going to go all in for the rebuilds. Conversion to oil fired small tube boilers to bring their speed up, drop Q turret for more power to get them up to 27-28 knots (dont think 30 is doable but maybe it is) and add to their armor and torpedo defense. Swap their secondary batteries to some DP gun, I would honestly accept RN 4in guns for use as heavy flak. If possible buy either Iron Duke or Tiger as a third ship in my little squadron and give them a similar treatment.
Cruisers
By this point I know its boring to go the British route, but I really do like the Towns and they should compliment my Leander/County class ordered earlier nicely. The US cruisers are pretty good as well, the Italian and Japanese ships are a bit overloaded, and the French are...well French.
Destroyers
A part of me says TRIBALS!!! But they wont be laid down until next year, so instead I am going to go with the G and H class, which loads of navies operated in some numbers anyways and also HMS Glowworm. British destroyers were a bit on the small end by this point, but servicable enough, and not as top heavy as US, and Japanese ships. The French are again...French, and the Italian ships are just about as light but I have so far gone all British so why not continue.
Submarines
Probably the British S class is going to be ordered in numbers. The US has some very good subs available though, and really so does Italy. But again I am in a British rut and hopefully by this point have a good working relationship with UK yards, probably a frequent buyer discount too.
