HMS Princess Royal - A cheap and cheerful upgrade

A possible "simple" rebuild? Princess Royal is sold to the Netherlands ahead of the WNT. Part of the deal is that she is rebuilt to oil fired propulsion. She becomes the core of a DEI "fleet in being", supported by destroyers and submarines. In the early thirties she is upgraded with Dutch 120mm secondaries and Bofors AAA and in the mid to late thirties a supporting class of 3-4 "Destroyer Leaders" (OTL Tromp and Jacob van Heemskerck design) are built.
ITTL Java and Sumatra were never laid down and the Princess Royal (Prinses Royal?) and Tromp class cruisers replace OTL interwar construction.
View attachment 762970
A possible "simple" rebuild? Princess Royal is sold to the Netherlands ahead of the WNT. Part of the deal is that she is rebuilt to oil fired propulsion. She becomes the core of a DEI "fleet in being", supported by destroyers and submarines. In the early thirties she is upgraded with Dutch 120mm secondaries and Bofors AAA and in the mid to late thirties a supporting class of 3-4 "Destroyer Leaders" (OTL Tromp and Jacob van Heemskerck design) are built.
ITTL Java and Sumatra were never laid down and the Princess Royal (Prinses Royal?) and Tromp class cruisers replace OTL interwar construction.
View attachment 762970
Don´t forget the hazemeijer gun control system with it the 3-axis stabilized gun mounts, ....

It seems that ..

Op 20 augustus 1940 ontmoetten Hr. Ms. Van Kinsbergen en de Amerikaanse kruiser USS Tuscaloosa elkaar ergens op de Atlantische Oceaan. Het Nederlandse oorlogsschip gaf daarna enkele demonstraties met de Bofors 40mm kanonnen, die op drie assen gestabiliseerd waren op het door Hazemeyer gepatenteerde onderstel. Samen met de uitstekende vuurleiding kwamen de schutters aan boord van de Nederlandse kanonneerboot tot verbluffende resultaten. De Amerikanen waren zo onder de indruk dat zij besloten dit systeem in gebruik te gaan nemen. Om hun patenten veilig te stellen wilden de Zweden echter niet zo snel overgaan tot het overdragen van de ontwerpen van hun Bofors kanon aan de Verenigde Staten. Die konden echter niet wachten op dit soort, althans in hun ogen, futiliteiten en verkregen de tekeningen via de Koninklijke Marine, die deze in bewaring had in het toen nog onbezette Nederlands Oost-Indië. Pas na de oorlog werden de Zweden hiervoor gecompenseerd.

Source - The Bofors Gun by Tery Gander, Pen & Sword Military,

or

 
Yet to find anything online about introduction of the Hazemeyer mount in advance of the above. I'm guessing that there would have been previous twin Bofors mounts?
 
Yet to find anything online about introduction of the Hazemeyer mount in advance of the above. I'm guessing that there would have been previous twin Bofors mounts?
Mayby this will give some leads



 
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