The Dreadnought Yard Sale of 1914

I ran into something interesting that has, I think, some good material for some alternate history, though I am not able to do anything with it currently, since I'm bust with "Tomorrow's Mountian."

In the pre Great War years, Brazil and Argentina were interested in selling their dreadnoughts, and several nations were interested in buying them, including Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Since these ships were built already, unlike the soon to be stolen Sultan Osman I and Reşadiye, they could have reached their buyers prior to the war breaking out--or even been sold while the war was ongoing, if the Ottomans and/or Greece were neutrals.

If anyone thinks this is a fun possiblity, please--run with it.

Certainly a pair of dreadnoughts would serve Greece better than the two undersized predreadnoughts they bought from the USA, and the Ottoman Empire already having two (or more) dreadnoughts might make Britain consider handling the theft of the dreadnoughts in a different manner.
 
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Would they really? What roles are Greek dreadnoughts going to play?

The Greeks would get little use out of either, but, if you're going to buy ships to counter the Ottoman dreadnoughts, genuine dreadnoughts will be a better investment than the pair of predreadnoughts they actually bought; Idaho and Mississippi had the sole advantage of being ready to take NOW instead of waiting for a builder to finish them..
 

cpip

Gone Fishin'
I ran into something interesting that has, I think, some good material for some alternate history, though I am not able to do anything with it currently, since I'm bust with "Tomorrow's Mountian."

In the pre Great War years, Brazil and Argentina were interested in selling their dreadnoughts, and several nations were interested in buying them, including Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Since these ships were built already, unlike the soon to be stolen Sultan Osman I and Reşadiye, they could have reached their buyers prior to the war breaking out--or even been sold while the war was ongoing, if the Ottomans and/or Greece were neutrals.

If anyone thinks this is a fun possiblity, please--run with it.

Certainly a pair of dreadnoughts would serve Greece better than the two undersized predreadnoughts they bought from the USA, and the Ottoman Empire already having two (or more) dreadnoughts might make Britain consider handling the theft of the dreadnoughts in a different manner.

Well, Greece already had placed orders for two dreadnoughts -- one in German yards and one in French yards. The German one was already underway towards completion when the war broke out, but the Germans didn't feel they could convert it to use with their fleet, so they left it incomplete. They also had expressed some interest in buying one of the Chilean dreadnoughts -- there was even some press suggesting a purchase was imminent.

Argentina had a strong faction in its government that wanted to sell, but there was considerable US pressure against selling, since they didn't want American shipbuilding falling into "the wrong hands", whatever those were.

The Brazilian dreadnoughts would've been a terrible option -- by all accounts the Brazilian Navy was sorely neglected after the revolts in 1910, to the point where there was visible rust on the boilers and guns by 1913 and a representative from Armstrong suggested the ships were functionally useless. That wouldn't stop some nations from buying them -- the Russians had expressed an interest, and any dreadnought was one more dreadnought than they had to face the Germans with.
 
"Would they really? What roles are Greek dreadnoughts going to play?"

They could have enforced their neutrality a bit more effectively for one thing. Additionally, their mere presence would have altered the strategic vision that the CP and Allies had, and made their naval plans more complicated.
 
The Brazilian dreadnoughts were a MESS--but a dreadnought can be fixed up for far less than it can be built in the first place. Two extra dreadnoughts in anyone's hands are a possible game changer. And--if people don't know tat the ships are rusty tigers, then the deterrence is intact...
 
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