Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 1 (Beatty vs Hipper)" video.
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@joshthomas-moore2656 my two cents worth: BCs cost as much to build as a BB. BCs cost as much to run as a BB. Due to their armament, they will, sooner or later, be stuck into a battle against BBs, where their glass jaw will become evident. iirc, one of the Kongos was sunk by cruisers in the Solomons. To my eye, BCs are poor value for money. BCs are at a disadvantage against BBs, yet they can be taken out by a group of 3-4 cruisers. One of my nightmare scenarios is the IJN realizing the Kongos aren't up to the job around 1938, and converting them all to carriers, so they will not be stuck into a surface engagement, which would give the IJN a massive superiority in air group strength early in the war.
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In the presentation, Drac says that, as a result of British code breaking, the RN knew the Germans were coming out and planned to intercept them. When I read about Jutland in the 60s, the events were described as the RN being on a routine "sweep" of the North Sea, searching for any German ships that may be about, and, by luck, ran into the entire German fleet, with no mention of German codes being broken. Was the fact that the German codes were broken kept secret by the British government until sometime after the material I read was written in the 60s, with the entire action being declared a lucky coincidence?
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