Iron Sun

Banned
Off the top of my head, money and material's, the UK post war didn't have the money to invest in keeping them as museum ships and had a much more pressing need for the metals of the ships. Vanguard could have been kept fairly easily if they wanted to but again budgets...
Also, the people of the states which the BBs were named after thought it would be cool to have a ship named after their state to keep.
 
As the turn towards museum ships probably illustrates already, I think the effects of this on the war would be comparatively minor.

Perhaps it will take people a little bit longer to really ram home the realization that air power was important at sea, but if so, they'll learn it soon enough from the Mediterranean and the Pacific.

Either way, Germany is out one Bismarck and it's not like saving the Hood changes Britain's naval picture. Of all the things Britain could have used during the war, "one more battleship" really isn't high on the list.

The short term morale for the British public would be significant and finish off any notion that the RN couldn't stop a German invasion, but by the time Bismarck has sunk, the period of real fear of an invasion is going away on its own.
 
Victory was slated to be broken up (she had never really recovered from her trails at Trafalgar - when she was already 40 years old and was relegated to a 2nd rate) - the head of the navy at the time who had made that decision was Admiral 'Kiss me' Hardy - Victory's former Captain

Upon making that decision he returned home and confessed this heavy decision to his wife.

She promptly broke down and had a major 'you're never going to share my bed again / dinners going to be in the dog going forwards from this day damn your eyes sir' style hissy fit and made him return to the Admiralty 'at once' and reverse that decision. Which. He. Did. Huzzah.

That is why Victory still lives - because of Mrs Admiral Hardy - I do love that woman.

The reason why the Brits don't keep ships is because they are long in the tooth regarding such things - ships served a purpose- once they could no longer serve - off they went by their thousands and from 1948 to the early 60s Britain had no money or space to retain / restore knackered battleships to 'museums' anyway.

There is nothing I would love more than to see HMS Warspite restored and sitting on the Thames River instead of HMS Belfast and like that ship open to the Public 364 days a year but I fully understand that this was not possible - she was a wreck - war ruined and badly hurt.

I totally love that she lived up to her name to the last and fought her fate even as she was towed to the scrap yard.

Most of the Battleships had racked up many many sea miles.

Specifically covering the Arctic convoys - where they would rack up 8K NMs or more per convoy.

Not for them sitting around in a Norwegian Fjord!
 
As to the OP - maybe Hood gets a deep refit instead of Renown and has her Mk2 Turrets given a Mk1n style makeover in addition to being 'post Jutland'd' as well as her armour scheme modified and secondaries improved - Torpedos removed improved machinary and modernised superstructure reducing her weight allowing for the extra armour etc etc

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With a more modern and higher main director and possibly radar along with the improved armour scheme - Adm Holland might have her engage at longer range

As to Bismarck - if 14" Shells are hurting her then so are the British 15" shells
 

SsgtC

Banned
Just had a thought. If Hood survives Denmark Straight, what are the odds that she's sent with PoW to Singapore later that year?
 
Just had a thought. If Hood survives Denmark Straight, what are the odds that she's sent with PoW to Singapore later that year?
Entirely depends on the damage she sustained at Denmark Straight.

If she is badly damaged and needs some form of extensive / time consuming refit, forget it - She simply won't be repaired in time. If she is operational in time, then it will depend where the RN needs a fast capital ship the most. However, as one of the few ships capable of catching and defeating the twins, she may remain in the UK while they are a credible threat.
 
Hoods condition before Denmark Strait was very poor

She had stripped turbine blades trying to chase down a French DD and was years past a well deserved major deep refit

She had had a short 'paper over the cracks' refit after Mers El Kabir

With Bismark destroyed and more KGVs coming on line then I can see her being sent to a US ship yard for a proper rebuild
 
Assuming Hood gets a proper period of repairs and refits, and isn't sunk/badly damaged later in the war does she make the cut for the post war fleet? Despite her age she was faster than the KGVs (which were kept in service until the 1950s) and as fast as Vanguard (which was decommissioned in 1960).
 
Assuming Hood gets a proper period of repairs and refits, and isn't sunk/badly damaged later in the war does she make the cut for the post war fleet? Despite her age she was faster than the KGVs (which were kept in service until the 1950s) and as fast as Vanguard (which was decommissioned in 1960).

When were the surviving QE's decommissioned? I doubt she'd last much longer than that at the most.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
It's really kind of interesting when you look at it. The Royal Navy was defined by their Battleships for hundreds of years. First with the Ship of the Line, then the Pre-dreadnaughts, then Dreadnaught and her descendants. But yet, the only ship that was persevered was Victory.

The USN on the other hand, was a relative latecomer as a world power in terms of our fleet. And if anything, we've been defined more by the aircraft carrier than anything else. Yet we've preserved 7 Battleships. I'd be really curious to research why that is. What made the RN send all it's famous ships to the scrapyard the minute the war was over, while the US kept theirs around?

We named our BB after states.
 
When were the surviving QE's decommissioned? I doubt she'd last much longer than that at the most.
the last of the QEs went out of service in 1948, but Hood was much faster that them (30 knots to 24) and was a post-Jutland design, so I'm not so sure it's fate would be to at best match the QEs.
 
the last of the QEs went out of service in 1948, but Hood was much faster that them (30 knots to 24) and was a post-Jutland design, so I'm not so sure it's fate would be to at best match the QEs.

From memory she wasn't really a "Post Jutland" rather modified in construction due to lesson's learned rather than "true" Post Jutland designs. As to speed, sure she's faster but how relevant is that? She's going to be an old hull that's been used hard even with a deep refit so I can't see the logic of keeping her in service over better protected/designed KGV's
 
From memory she wasn't really a "Post Jutland" rather modified in construction due to lesson's learned rather than "true" Post Jutland designs. As to speed, sure she's faster but how relevant is that? She's going to be an old hull that's been used hard even with a deep refit so I can't see the logic of keeping her in service over better protected/designed KGV's
I suppose that depends on what post-Bismarck refit she gets and her life after WWII.

If a superficial refit to 'paint over' the cracks as it were, expect her to go in the late 1940's, around the same time as the QE's. Keep in mind that the much newer HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney went at the same time as the Revenge Class and Queen Elizabeth Class vessels. They were all worn out simple as that.

If on the other hand she gets a 'deep' refit - Replace engines, much internal equipment, better armouring, new secondaries etc etc etc, she may last in service until the 1960's alongside HMS Vanguard. She was the pride of the fleet and darling of England after all.

As to her being retained as a museum ship, well how famous will she be ITTL? OTL she is famous because of how she met her fate - Going down in a blaze of glory against the Bismarck. ITTL? Sure, she defeats the Bismarck, but OTL so did HMS Rodney and HMS King George V, but did they get preserved? No. As romantic as it is to keep her as a museum ship, the best she could expect would to be hulked and then scrapped. If however she is very very very lucky she will be hulked (Accomodation maybe???) and then in the 1980's as she is rusting away at her mourings she is saved by public interest, returned to former glory and preserved as a public trust. This is how HMS Warrior was saved - She was an oil storage ship until rescued by public funds. Cutty Sark was much the same. Used as a storage barge or something and saved by public interest. SS Normadic - the RMS Titanic's tender and last White Star Line vessel is preserved due to..... Public interest and funds. HMS Belfast (To name the bigie as it were) is preserved by the Imperial War Museum - A public trust.

In the UK very few ships are preserved by the government. Not too sure about the Mary Rose, but HMS Victory is preserved by the Royal Navy (And holds the title of being the world's oldest commissioned warship), as is HMS Caroline, last surviving ship which served at Jutland. Note: She is an exception to the rule as she has been in commission until recently as a Royal Marine training ship. She was decommissioned a few years back (Training moved shoreside) and then they preserved her as the last survivor of Jutland, as the 100 year anniversary was coming up.

My understanding is that in the US the ships are also preserved by public funds, in most cases the states that they are named after - IE the USS Texas is preserved by and in the state of Texas etc, with the exception here being the USS Constution (Oldest commissioned afloat warship in the world) and USS Iowa (Memorial to WWII) and others are owned by museums and are therefore public trusts.

Keep in mind that maintaining a ship is a very expensive thing, expecially an older ship. One needs to make money out of it, hence most are museums as the museum charges visit fees and this in turn goes into maintaining the ship.
 
From memory she wasn't really a "Post Jutland" rather modified in construction due to lesson's learned rather than "true" Post Jutland designs.
She was laid down 3 months after Jutland and prior to being laid down the initial design had been revised with Jutland in mind. It wasn't a post-Jutland design from the get go, but I think the label still applies.

As to speed, sure she's faster but how relevant is that?
Lack of speed was cited amongst the reasons for the decommissioning of the Nelsons (whose max speed was 23.5 knots). The newer aircraft carriers of the RN could all go more than 30 knots, and since battle groups need to be able to keep pace with each other the slowest ships would be removed first so they wouldn't be holding up the rest of their unit.

She's going to be an old hull that's been used hard even with a deep refit so I can't see the logic of keeping her in service over better protected/designed KGV's
Speed would be the deciding factor, seeing as how the RN was content to set the pace to 30 knots for HMS Vanguard they wouldn't have much of a problem with Hood which could match Vanguard's speed. The logistics of keeping such an old ship in service would obviously prevent it from staying on as long as Vanguard, but I think it's possible for it to outlive the KGVs.
 
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