PC: Using scrapped ship hulls in defensive lines

Is using obsolete ships as forts sensible?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Mostly sensible

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • Mostly unreasable

    Votes: 33 58.9%
  • No

    Votes: 18 32.1%

  • Total voters
    56
Theres a variety of maintenance issues. If its a older ship you have to contend with failing mechanicals. bilge pump motors quitting. Obsolete electrical components. Simply plugging the ship into the local electrical grid may not be practical. If you are going to get two decades of useful life from this hulk it will need a complete refit of its combat and housekeeping systems. The steering and propulsion systems could be discarded, but most of the ship would need a overhaul.

And of course some idiot would come along bothering people with his plan to refloat 'The Grand Old Lady'.
 
Prior to WWII, Allied planners and parts of the Reichswehr (for example Hans von Seeckt) believed that if a world war was going to take place, it would be a WWI-style trench war, involving large scale defensive lines. So, in a timeline with a militaristic Germany that ignores swift-war theorists like Hans Guderian, the Second World War might have been more similar to the First.

If this had become the case, might some countries start integrating obsolete ships into their defensive lines by hauling them onto land, partially burying them in earthworks, and using them as landbound forts? Is it a sensible idea, or would it just waste valuable resources while alienating the navy?

Maybe I'm wrong, but the only country I could see 'reasonably' doing this is the Netherlands. They've flooded their countryside before for defense purposes, maybe while they're at it a few small ships could be brought inland as well. As reinforcements arrive, they can afford to close the docks and let the water back out. However, PERHAPS they could choose to let some older ships settle into the mud and become bunkers. Seems goofy but technically possible I'm sure if the boats are small enough.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, but the only country I could see 'reasonably' doing this is the Netherlands. They've flooded their countryside before for defense purposes, maybe while they're at it a few small ships could be brought inland as well. As reinforcements arrive, they can afford to close the docks and let the water back out. However, PERHAPS they could choose to let some older ships settle into the mud and become bunkers. Seems goofy but technically possible I'm sure if the boats are small enough.
AFAIK the flooded areas have shallow depth, think of measured in centimeters of water, not meters. So it doesn't seem feasible to me.
 
IIRC there were 5 pre Dreads stationed in the Humber in August 1914 to counter the most likely position for a German invasion. Far cheaper than 10 twin 12” turrets in forts and they’re still mobile.
 
IIRC there were 5 pre Dreads stationed in the Humber in August 1914 to counter the most likely position for a German invasion. Far cheaper than 10 twin 12” turrets in forts and they’re still mobile.

Well, cheaper than ten NEW 12" turrets. Those old 12" guns on the pre-dreads had quite a short range. Also, those particular turrets already existed, so whether lifted, or left on the ships, they were sunk cost.
 
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