most impressive Depiction of pre.WW2 Royal navy

[pharmy]

https://external-preview.redd.it/_g0HOH ... 4361385529

file too large so in a link, looks most impressive !

[BBfanboy]

Impressive but exaggerated - they included all the ships under construction or even just planned. Note all the KG V class BBs - they never were all in commission - POW was sunk before DoY was completed, let alone Anson and Howe. The Lion class (Lion, Témeraire) were never completed.

[warspite1]

most impressive Depiction of pre.WW2 Royal navy

warspite1

Ahh would that it were...would that it were.....[:(]

This is not a depiction of the senior service pre-WW2 - it's probably a bit of a morale booster with war looming.

According to the blurb below the picture it states:

Most of the vessels depicted are already in service or approaching completion... Well most may be true but.....

Row G is the interesting one (the cruisers of row D were all building too):

The illustration includes the battleships Lion and Temeraire that were never completed (and didn't get much beyond laying down). All five KGV's are depicted - two even with with their original names. Only one of these would be ready by 1940 with two more following in 1941 and the last two in 1942.

I can see five of the six Illustrious-class - but again four of these were completed in 1940/41 and the last two not until 1944 due to other priorities once war started.

The sheer numbers mask the serious deficiencies too - the lack of front line aircraft for the carriers, and the large number of obsolete (or war would quickly prove obsolete) carriers (Eagle, Hermes and Argus) battleships (R-class) and cruisers (C, D and E-class). The most powerful battleships - Nelson and Rodney - were built in the 1920's and slow, the battleships/battlecruisers - Barham, Malaya, Hood and Repulse - would enter WW2 largely un-modernised from their WW1 origins/days, the modernising Valiant and Queen Elizabeth would not be ready for the start of the war.

The officers and men of the Royal Navy achieved what they did in WW2 often in spite of their equipment not because of....[&o]

[jdsrae]

Plus they’ve claimed the RAN as their own [:-]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Plus they’ve claimed the RAN as their own [:-]

warspite1

Not sure why that get's the [:-]

If this is a morale booster or propaganda effort for Joe Public in the build up to possible war then its understandable why they've maximised (and exaggerated) the numbers - after all that is what propaganda is about. The heading is the British Navy, but then describes the British Imperial Navy. No mention of the Royal Navy that I could see - or equally the RAN, the RCN or the New Zealand Squadron of the RN.

In addition, when looking at this we need to remember the situation at the time and not what we know now. War in home waters, the North and South Atlantic, the Arctic, the Mediterranean and the Indian/Pacific oceans all in one go!?

At that time the strength of Britain was believed - certainly by the public - to be its Empire, and the safety of its Dominions, colonies and territories was in the safe hands of the Royal Navy which would send the big battalions to wherever was required in time of need. Regardless of what we know happened - the greatest case of strategical overstretch in history as someone once said - the resources of the Empire would be expected to be used for the good of the Empire.

Indeed at the outbreak of war there was no Japanese threat and so the ships of the Royal Australian Navy served alongside their RN counterparts in all the major oceans and seas.

For reasons that are well known, in 1942 Australia and New Zealand increasingly looked to the US for their security and that makes this poster appear in retrospect a little - let's say sad, but there are other words. But the world in 1942 was a lifetime away from 1939.

[jdsrae]

Great article. My tongue was firmly in my cheek with that [:-] as the post was titled RN.
My GGpa was RN and came out with the ships transferred to Aus in 1911.
Practically the RAN was still the RN Australian Squadron.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Always great to see that spectacular drawing again! [:)]


Leo "Apollo11"

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

Great article. My tongue was firmly in my cheek with that [:-] as the post was titled RN.
My GGpa was RN and came out with the ships transferred to Aus in 1911.
Practically the RAN was still the RN Australian Squadron.

warspite1

Ah okay [:)]

[wegman58]

I was at quite possibly the last really impressive display of Royal Navy strength - Elizabeth II's 25th anniversary Naval Review. Royal Navy traded places with other navies for NATO duties and they assembled most of the Royal Navy with contributions from the Commonwealth - RCN ship was part of the task force I came over with, and I met my stalker for the first time (HMAS Perth was at Portsmouth (this review), saw her on another ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean and yet another ship in both Vancouver, BC and Pearl Harbor).

When we left the RN was in line ahead from horizon to horizon.

The reason I say 'last' is the RN has shrunk dramatically since then in number of ships.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

More than enough to face the German-Italians

[rustysi]

the lack of front line aircraft for the carriers,

Yeah, what's up with that? You've even done it today.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: rustysi

the lack of front line aircraft for the carriers,

Yeah, what's up with that? You've even done it today.

No, that's not true , they have F-35's. OK, right now the Planes (and pilots) are on loan from the USMC (hey, what else are friends for?) But that's being fixed. [:D]