Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 151" video.

  1. wrt retaining the Courageous class as "large light cruisers", given the WNT's classifications, anything over 10,000 tons or with guns larger than 8" is a "capital ship", the Courageouses would count as capital ships. That being said, the treaty says, wrt the tonnage quotas for each power: " The total capital ship replacement tonnage of each of the Contracting Powers shall not exceed in standard displacement,..." it sounds like the tonnage limit only becomes a factor when a power starts replacing older ships. The original UK retention list totaled some 580,000 tons. When the two Nelsons were built, they replaced four older ships, and reduced total UK tonnage to 558,950 tons. Sounds to me that, in principle, the RN could have retained as many ships as it wanted to, but had to draw down the fleet to the 525,000 limit as those older ships were replaced. As for the Courageous' mission in WWII, I'm thinking convoy escort/raider hunter in the Atlantic or Indian Oceans. Before being attached to Force Z, Repulse was performing that mission in the Indian Ocean.
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  2.  @MrNicoJac  wrt: "with regard to". WNT: "Washington Naval Treaty".
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  3.  @arivael  the Courageouses were called "large light cruisers". I would run with that, use them as light cruisers, that happen to have very large guns. A triple 8" turret weights less than half what the twin 15" turret's weight, but I don't know if a quad would fit on the existing barbette. Would the greater rate of fire, vs throwing smaller shells, be worth the effort? Thinking of them as cruisers, I don't see a need for significant additional armor, as they are about as well protected as treaty era cruisers. Replace the six triple 4" mounts with six, or more, twin DP 5.25" and some medium AA, and they would not seem absurd to me.
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  4.  @arivael  as battlecruisers, the Courageouses were around 20,000 tons. I doubt they could be carved down to 10,000 tons. Considering the ships were twenty years old in the late 30s, I doubt anyone would be interested in a rearmament that would require wider barbettes. I really tend to want to run the Courageouses as Jackie Fisher styled them; light cruisers, with really big guns.
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