The Greenland Navy was lucky in that it already had 16" battleships near the Treaty limit, the Dido class. All navies were going to have the same problem. Getting a balanced battleship on 35,000 tons was going to be difficult. With only 2,000 tons extra to use over the Dido class design, those tons would have to be spent wisely. The ships were eventually 2,500 tons over the 35k limit which was a fairly insignificant error compared to some.
The ships are shown above as they appeared at Scapa Flow, January 1940. The first radar sets are mounted on directors and mast tops. predictors for the 40mm are another year away. While with the Home Fleet, the Sydyk and Bostar took part in all the actions culminating in the Norwegian Campaign where the two ships chased two Germanic States battlecruisers that were coming south from bombarding Spitzbergen to support the destroyers at Narvik. The two German ships managed to use their four knot speed advantage to sail away from the Sydyk and Bostar, which were forced to return to the fleet based outside Narvik Fjord. Bostar was chosen to accompany Warspite into the Fjord to settle the destroyers. With air support from the battleships seaplanes the destroyers did not stand a chance, with all ten being sunk or otherwise beyond repair.
After the Fall of France, just months later from the Norwegian Campaign, the Sydyk and Bostar are returned to Greenlandian waters to become part of Allied Fleet Central which is to guard the entrance to the Mediterranean and the passes of the Atlantic to the east and west of Greenland. With the Germans now active on both sides of the Pillars of Hercules, the French West African forces were given the choice to stay and fight the Germans or be transferred to Greenland where they would be able to hit back in the future. The French ships involved were given little choice. Sail to Greenlandian waters or be scuttled or sunk where they were. Most chose to join the Allied Fleet. Only a few diehards scuttled their ships. There would be nothing left behind for the Germans to make use of.
Into 1941 and the Germanic States and Axis Fleet North attack the forces guarding the Newfoundland Gap. This area is huge (especially since I have taken Greenland out of position) and requires large numbers of cruisers and a big backup fleet to guard against a breakout. (see 30/08/1941 - Battle of the Strait). With the end of the Battle, the East and West Guard fleets were stripped of their best ships to replace the losses from the battle. The Sydyk, Bostar and two carriers were part of the force that went North. Every ship was on high alert waiting for the Axis Fleet to come back and try again, once it had shepherded their cripples to Norway. But no new strike eventuated. The forces guarding the strait kept increasing in power until there were enough ships on station and in reserve at Scapa Flow to defeat anything the Axis Fleet could throw at it. The advent of the FW190A had been a shock to the naval air fleets of the Allies and the future aircraft on their way into production were hurried into service.
We will catch up with the service lives of Sydyk and Bostar as they join the four later Greenlandian battleships and go on the offensive to kick the German troops out of Africa and roll up the North African coast and knock Spain out of the war. This would allow the Allied forces to project into the Mediterranean and cut off the German troops. The easiest way to get Germany into trouble is to knock out all of the smaller support countries so the Germans would have to send their own troops from the front lines to try and stop the Allies.
