Naval History Forums

I wouldn't either, but the British would have been less likely to take over the region and the current politics might have been vastly different, particularly as regards Iraq, Israel and Jordan. An independent Kurdistan? Who knows, but I think the map of the Near East would look a lot different than...

I realized as soon as i sent it that CVs were part of Washington. Sorry. Since we were using American designators, (BB for battleship) I used CB (as in USS Alaska, CB 1) for battlecruisers. Lex and Sara. Giant at the time? Some contemporaries: Ryuzyo 548' x 60.5. ' 7,100 tons Bearn 599' x 89' 22,000...

I don't think that CVs were included in the treaty, which is why the US converted Lex and Sara (building) from CB into (at the time) giant CVs. If the British had scrapped their BBs (as a "goodwill gesture" ) and built 8 inch cruisers as their "capital ships" to defend the then s...

If we're being hypothetical, of course. But if Britain had agreed to scrap the Rs and the QEs to build more of the derided (at the time) "tin clad" Counties, would the other countries have objected? The RN should have maintained control over its aircraft. As for pilots, during the Battle o...

Armoured carriers with dive and torpedo bombers and 8" cruisers (big enough to scout in heavy weather, deal with surface raiders and in groups, engage battleships) would be the core of the fleet. Beyond that, convoy escorts (frigates), submarines and long range aircraft under naval command. I'd...

I wouldn't rate Churchill at all. He cost the British dearly in naval (and military) matters (Norway, Crete, Force Z and others) and the only reason he didn't cost them more is that some Admirals (notably Tovey and Cunningham) stood up to him. We are only now getting out from under the Churchill as ...

I should have added that If Turkey had remained neutral in WWI, the British would have been unable to claim the ruins of the Ottoman Empire- no Sykes-Pigot Agreement, no Balfour Declaration, no Iraq or Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Israel. Perhaps a nod should be given to that remarkable super-dreadnaught...

By bringing the Turks into the war, she precipated the Gallipoli campaign, the defeat of which led to the Russian Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Union. As a further effect, Turkey stayed neutral in WWII. Dreadnought was influential (turbines, all-big-gun, etc) but battleship design, in te...

If the British had kept Skuas, I wonder would they have been effective against the Japanese. ARK ROYAL's Skuas (flying from Orkney) sank the damaged German CL KONINGSBURG in 1940 (first loss of a major warship by air attack) but the Skua was withdrawn from carrier service not long after that. Perhap...

I read Kennedy's "Pursuit" for the second time several years ago- aloud to my wife over about a month. There is poetry in his language, the cadence of a seaman. Bercuson and Herwig's "The Destruction of the Bismark" is flat by comparison and I am reminded of Dr. Johnson's famous ...

There are so many but Cunningham and Collingwood should be mentioned in any British list, both great Admirals, not only as fighters and ship-handlers(Collingwood's action at Cape St. Vincent enabled Nelson to do what he did), but as administrators as well and an Admiral is, first and foremost, an ad...

I'd vote for WARSPITE, given her 30 year career and the great variety of her actions (against BBs, CBs, DDs, submarines, aircraft and shore positions.) SHEFFIELD was also successful: BISMARK, BARRENTS SEA, SCHARNHORST. Successful can have many, sometimes contradictory meanings. As built, RODNEY was ...