Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 120" video.

@lio5624 The monitor class ships were for shore bombardment. The RN started out using obsolete battleships for bombardment, but found them restricted by their deep draft, and vulnerable to torpedoes. The monitors were very hastily and cheaply built, with very shallow draft and huge torpedo bulges. The Erebus class used surplus new twin 15" turrets. The Abercrombie class used new American twin 14" turrets. The rest of the monitors used guns and turrets taken from obsolete RN warships, particularly the Majestic class battleships and the Drake and Cressy class cruisers.
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@NaomiClareNL as an exercise, I considered the impact of the French claiming the three Mackensen class hulls that were in the water as war reparations, towing them home and completing them, with the guns built for the Normandies, rather than trying to lengthen and upengine the Normandies to be competitive with where the Caracciolo class had raised the bar. The end result was Mackensens completed along those lines would be, by 1930 standards, undergunned, with an obsolete armor layout and inadequate torpedo protection. Additionally, if France had completed the Mackensens, they would have lost the two battleship construction licenses granted by the Washington treaty that they used for the two Dunkerque class ships. I wouldn't give the time of day for the incomplete Bayerns as they were 21kt ships, that had diesels for cruising engines, when big diesels were not yet quite ready from prime time. If it was the Dutch doing all that acquiring, the Netherlands were neutral in WWI, so would have had to pay for the incomplete ships, where France could get them for free, then the Dutch would be paying to complete them and paying the running costs for the next 20 years. I suspect the Dutch would not be considering the 1047s, because the Mackensens would have burned up all their money.
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@johnshepherd8687 originally, all four of the Abercrombie class monitors were named for Americans. The other two were named after Generals Grant and Lee. The turrets and guns for these were bought from Bethlehem Steel in the US. Bethlehem had built them for the Greek battleship Salamis, which was building in a German yard, but they could not be delivered due to the British blockade, so Bethlehem offered them to the Admiralty instead. The original names were intended as a tribute to the gun's American origin, but, as the US was neutral at the time, on second thought, that did not seem very diplomatic, so the ships were renamed.
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@kevinschultz7040 The Germans built "flak ships", basically anything they could get their hands on, that they could bolt AA guns to, during WWII for convoy escort.
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