For discussion of warship design and armament.

Is there a list of existing infrastructure (how many slips capable of what tonnage) that can be used as a reference to come up with an idea of how many ships of a particular weight class can be built over what time scales?

So, if you are scrapping the Revenges, what are your thoughts on keeping and modernising Tiger in similar manner to the Repulse, Renown and Hood?

She's fast and should be reasonably punchy with 8x 13.5" guns firing the heavy (1400lb) projectiles. With her original strange armour layout revised a la Renown, higher main gun elevation, modern fire control and new boilers/turbines she would presumably make for another useful fast hull.

I know the 13.5" is yet another calibre to deal with. However, there should be plenty of spare barrels and ammunition already kicking around the supply system after all the Iron Dukes are removed from service and scrapped. Enough to keep one ship operational, surely.

Tiger was a good ship, but had already been scrapped before Don Erlang arrived in 1934, so can't feature in the world of TFW!

By the way, if you are interested in the whole question of the interrelationship between warship design and the interwar naval limitation treaties then I recommend a pair of books by John Jordan: Warships After Washington and Warships After London. 

Refleks said:

Is there a list of existing infrastructure (how many slips capable of what tonnage) that can be used as a reference to come up with an idea of how many ships of a particular weight class can be built over what time scales?

A detailed source is The Battleship Builders: Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships by Ian Johnston and Ian Buxton.

An idea of the physical facilities may be gained from looking at what work was actually done, where:

What I've been able to piece together from Conway's Fighting Ships is this:

Devonport: 

Malaya Oct 34-Dec 36

Valiant Mar 37-Nov 39

Portsmouth:

Warspite Mar 34-Mar 37

QE Aug 37-Dec 40

Renown Sep 37-Sep 39

Repulse Apr 33-May 36

New build: commercial firms (dates from laying down to launching): 

KGV Jan 37-Feb 39 (Tyne-VA)

PoW Jan 37-May 39 (Birkenhead-CL)

DoY May 37-Feb 40 (Clyde-JB)

Anson Jul 37-Feb 40 (Tyne-SH)

Howe Jun 37-Apr 40 (Clyde-Fair.)

Vanguard Oct 41-Nov 44 (Clyde-JB)

Ark Royal (1) Sep 35- Apr 37 (Birkenhead-CL)

Illustrious Apr 37-Apr 39 (Barrow-VA)

Victorious May 37-Sep 39 (Tyne-VA)

Formidable Jun 37-Aug 39 (Belfast-H&W)

Indomitable Nov 37-Apr 40 (Barrow-VA)

Implacable Feb 39-Dec 42 (Clyde-Fair.)

Indefatigable Nov 39-Dec 42 (Clyde-JB)

Audacious/Eagle Oct 42+ (Belfast-H&W)

Ark Royal (2) May 43+ (Birkenhead-CL)

The conclusions from this seem to be as follows:

All reconstructions were carried out by RN Dockyards which were able to handle one (Devonport) and two (Portsmouth) capital ships at any one time. Each reconstruction took between two and three years (approx).

All new builds were carried out by private firms in seven different locations,  which c

Awesome, thank you for the overview!

In regards to aircraft carriers it wasn't armoured flight decks per se that were the problem, but the armoured box hangars with 4" of side armour to resist cruiser gunfire.

Post war every US carrier design has had an armoured flight deck, including those initially drawn up during the war, as did Britain's proposed "Malta" class.

By using the tonnage that went into the sides of the box but retaining the armoured flight deck you get a much more survivable carrier with the ability to take a bigger airgroup.

And of course, getting Glorious, Courageous, and Furious in for a quick trip to the dockyards to have their flight decks rebuilt without the fore and aft round downs would also help.

Then all Don has to do is win the fight with the RAF over number of aircraft and training actual navigators.

larrikin2 said:

Then all Don has to do is win the fight with the RAF over number of aircraft and training actual navigators

Yes indeed: I have nothing against the RAF, but Don would not be very popular with them... with their 4-engined heavies mostly pinched for MR duties!

Thanks for the tip on the flight decks. I recall reading that in smaller (WW2) carriers, the strength deck is below the hangars, so the flight deck is added weight on top. But by the time we get to the big postwar carriers, the obvious place for the strength deck is higher up, where the flight deck happens to be, so a flight deck with considerable girder strength comes free!