The Battlecruiser debate:
In the real world the RN has the three battlecruisers Hood, Renown and Repulse any of which would blow away a Deutschland. But only three ships. The chances of any of those three ships intercepting one of the Deutschlands in the open sea is very low. In my Fisherless RN the Admiralty is even worse off as they only have the Tiger that is fast enough to catch and dispatch a Deutschland. Clearly something extra was required to provide the 'killer' in the hunter killer groups that would be needed to run down and catch the German raiders.
The 1930's Lillicrap designs were taken as the basis for at least two more battlecruisers to be built to act as raider killers. The 13.5" gun with the heavy 1400lb shell was chosen in a new turret with better elevation giving better range and giving faster firing.
In 1930-32, Charles Lillicrap, the chief cruiser designer, was seconded to the battleship section of the RCNC to design two small battlecruisers as examples for the 1932 Geneva talks on arms limitation.
1930. 20,000tons 680' waterline, beam 84', 90' over bulges; draught 22'; (3x2)12" or 10" (6x2)6" 6x4.7". Armour 9" side, 5" deck. 80,000shp for 30knots.
1932. 18,500tons 660', beam 83ft draught 21' (3x2)10" (4x2)6" (4x2)HA (2x8)2pdr. Armour 8" side, 3"+1" deck 80,000shp, 30 knots
Figures from his Workbook, with a weight breakdown and notes about armour to defeat 12" shells and poor underwater protection of second design (assume no bulges?)
So a bigger ship than Lillicrap usually designed, but his style in the days of Leanders, Amphion and Arethusa?"
The story of the Warrior.
The two ships, HMS Warrior and HMS Minotaur, were just too early for dual purpose weaponry and were completed with the single 4.7" and twin 6".
While the older capital ships were being rebuilt to bring them up to date, a modern ship like the Warrior should really have been given priority. To that end the Warrior was taken in hand in 1938 to replace the 6" and 4.7" singles and twins with a dual purpose 4.7" battery. New cross deck catapult, aircraft handling facilities and a hangar would provide a better service for the Warriors aircraft which were to be upgraded to the Supermarine Walrus.
The ship returned to service in July of 1939 with Captain Harwood in command. After two months of working up in and around the British Isles, war broke out. With the Graf Spee (GS) loose in the South Atlantic, Captain Harwood was promoted Commodore and sent with the Warrior to the South Atlantic to command the South American Division. Warriors South Atlantic service culminated in the sinking of the Graf Spee. (see Battle of the River Plate).
HMS Warrior and HMS Minotaur 1943-44.
Like most of the British capital ships of the time, Minotaur and Warrior had their aircraft handling facilities removed during 1943. This allowed the afterbridge to be rebuilt with even more enhanced AA. When completed in 1934 they had two 8 barrel pom poms, this increased to four after their 1939 refits, and increased again to six after 1943. Enhanced and updated electronic outfits were fitted to get them ready for service in the Pacific as escorts to the big carriers.
I will have to have a think about some suitable ends for these two ships. A bit more about service first maybe. Kill a couple of Japanese cruisers maybe. Enhanced radar versus mark one eyeball.
During the Battle of Vinh Nguyen the Warrior was hit by 3 torpedoes that sunk the ship. The Minotaur was in the same battle but escaped damage. The Minotaur was put in reserve in 1945 and eventually sold and scrapped in 1948.
