ABSTRACT
Battleships, British Britain entered the war with twelve battleships, of which only four were “modern,” and two others were being modernized. The remaining six units lacked the sensors, speed, antiaircraft armament, and armor distribution needed to survive the air-sea engagements in which they were expected to partici pate. As with many other navies of the period, war broke out before the Royal Navy’s (RN) plans were complete. The five obsolescent Royal Sovereignclass units were to be scrapped by the mid-1940s as the new King George V-class units came into ser vice. The even newer Lion-class had been planned as replacements for the battle cruisers.
