Thoughts on the Italian navy in Sealion

...the Deutschland count as capital ships?
They're oversized heavy cruisers.

I think there may be some confusion with the Deutschland class pre-dreadnoughts, though they actually replaced replaced Braunschweig class ships I believe.

The cruisers had an extra 11 inch gun in each turret but less armour only some 3 inchs on the belt for example. I am not sure either the 11inch 52 calibre guns on the Deutschlands or the 54.5 calibre guns on the twins or even the bored out 12.6 inch guns on the Italian battleships would have been an effective threat to the British battleships.

The only two actual modern battleships would have been desperately new as of May 1940.

A recipe for a famous RN victory if ever there was one, lots of puffing of British chests before folks point out it was hardly a fair fight.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
What do you (or anyone else for that matter) reckon the casualty ratio would be?

First question.
What ships does this combined fleet have that can damage an R-class or tougher at combat ranges? (Combat ranges being about 10 km or more.)
 
What do you (or anyone else for that matter) reckon the casualty ratio would be?

Something on the scale of Trafalgar and for much the same reasons as while there the French and Spanish fleets had much the same level of technology they lacked training. Here the ships that have had time to train simply don't have the tools to stand up to their enemies.

The Brits have up to 4 R class (Royal Oak having been sunk) , 5 Queen Elizabeth class, 2 Nelson Class and also 1 Hood and two Renown Class battlecruisers. They are unlikely to have all of them in operation due to maintenance cycles and the King George V does not hit the water till October by which time Sea Lion is either a go or is off so will in no way have had time to work up but even assuming Nelson is sunk or in dock due to torpedo damage given there are 13 other hulls you can expect the British to be able to field 11 of them.

Still given an equal number of largely superior ships, backed by carriers if the interception takes place out at sea or covered by Fighter Command if the KM and RM do link up and get to fight in British coastal waters which is very far from a given you can expect the Axis to be in a world of hurt. Still I would expect surprisingly few ships to be outright sunk and goodly number would likely escape back to port but don't expect them to return to service soon.
 
I don't think it's battleships that are needed here. They need numerous light ships to escort convoys and defend the beaches, particularly at night. Destroyers and light cruisers are needed, nothing bigger. The same goes for the RN really.

The best use for the RM and KM heavies is probably as a decoy, sailing to hit the Atlantic convoys routes rather than supporting the invasion. You could get a nice battle there, but it's not one that the RM/KM need to fight.
 
Just glancing at the title of this thread, my initial thought was, "If the RM's going to get into the fight, they're going to have to go by land!"
Can't see significant Italian forces going from Med to Channel without bats boarding space ships...
 
Top