mikemike
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Joined: 6/3/2004
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Tankerace
I did this for two reasons, and it was an early design decision. The main one is the RN will not figure too heavily into WPO. In the later stages of the campaign you will see them, but not a whole lot. The other reason, is when I began War Plan Orange, while I was going to ignore the Washington Treaty, I also wanted to have a firm foot in fact, or possibility. The three Hoods could have been laid down, however plans for the G3 design were never finalized, nor even ordered. This means that the three Hoods stood a better chance at being completed than the unamed G3s. In all probability (using the Nelsons as a guide), the G3s would have been laid down around February of 1923, and completed around early-mid 1928. After working up, they could possibly be slated for use sometime in late 1929 in the Pacific. If the world had not agreed to the Treaty of 1922, as is assumed by the mod, considering that they were almost bankrupt (which is why they hastily agreed to accept parity with the United States), IF they were going to get more ships, it would have been cheaper and quicker to resume construction of the three Hoods, and ignore the G3s. The three Hoods could have been had by 1926, around the time the Tosas, Amagis, South Dakotas, and Lexingtons were completed. The G3s would have to be delayed to around 1928-29. I believe the G3s were estimated to cost around 8.9 million pounds, so from an economic the British could have built 2 and 3/4 more Hoods than the cost of the G3s. I personal am of the opinion the G3s would never have been completed, Washington Treaty or not.
Iīm sorry, Tankerace, but I have to flatly contradict you there. The three additional Hoods (Anson, Howe, and Rodney) were never even laid down and finally cancelled in March, 1917, because the basic design was so unsatisfactory. The Royal Navy was finished forever with this type of ship (you might call them the Fisher school of thought - "speed is the best protection"). The G3īs (Invincible, Inflexible, Indomitable, Indefatigable) were ordered under the 1921 budget and laid down in October, 1921, then suspended about a month later, when the Washington Conference started, and finally cancelled in February, 1922. They had been expected to complete in 1925/26. The British delegation in Washington fought tooth and nail to get the battleship definition parameters to where they could use most of the G3 concepts in their new construction, the Rodney class, which used the main armament of the G3īs as well as their protection level, sacrificing only speed which dropped from 32 kts to 23 kts. You can be darned sure the G3īs would have been finished without the Washington Treaty whatever the sacrifice, because those ships were what wartime experience, analysis of the German ships interned in Scapa Flow and exhaustive postwar tests showed the RN they dearly needed if they wanted to remain a first-rate navy. When national pride is at stake budget considerations tend to go out the window. Anyway, additional Hoods would have had to be started from scratch, and I donīt think they would have been that much cheaper to build than the G3īs. The Brits were able to afford the Rodneys, which came out at 7,5 million pounds apiece.
Everybody was out of money at the time. There is a school of thought in Britain that is convinced that the G3īs were what ultimately made the USA initiate the Washington Conference because they outclassed everybody else so clearly and Congress was unwilling to spend the money needed to compete (the USN apparently was proposing ships too big to pass the Panama canal in answer to the G3īs).
I understand where you want to go with WPO, but even with a limited British presence, and even if you donīt want to have G3īs, more than one Hood would be completely ahistorical. You might as well give the Japanese two additional Iseīs instead of the Kagas.
Sorry I took so long to answer, but I was offline for a while - my mainboard conked out on me. Some condensers for the voltage regulators burst - yecch what a mess!
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