A Query about Capital Ships in mid-1939

[CJackson]

I've compiled the following list of aircraft carriers, battleships, and battlecruisers in service with the US navy, Royal navy, and Imperial navy in 1939. Have I overlooked any ships, or included ships not yet commissioned?

USN

CV (5)

Lexington
Saratoga
Ranger
Yorktown
Enterprise

BB (15)

Arkansas
New York
Texas
Nevada
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Arizona
New Mexico
Mississippi
Idaho
Tennessee
California
Colorado
Maryland
West Virginia


ROYAL NAVY

CV (6)

Glorious
Courageous
Furious
Eagle
Hermes
Ark Royal

BB/BC (15)

Renown
Repulse
Hood
QueenElizabeth
Warspite
Barham
Valiant
Malaya
Revenge
RoyalSovereign
Royal Oak
Resolution
Ramillies
Nelson
Rodney


IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY

CV (5)

Kaga
Akagi
Ryujo
Soryu
Hiryu

BB/BC (8)

Fuso
Yamashiro
Ise
Hyuga
Nagato
Mutsu
Kongo
Kirishima

[JCR]

Many of the ships you listed were in long term refit/conversion during that time.
On top of my head, Warspite and Queen Elizabeth plus many of the japanese battleships.
Hiei was downgraded as a training ship during that time.

[Oneto15]

HMS Prince Of Wales & HMS King George V. (Launched 1939)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_George_V_class_battleship_%281939%29#Service

HMS Iron Duke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Iron_Duke_%281912%29

[TheKiwi]

You couldn't really count the Iron Duke. It was being used as a training ship which meant they removed half the boilers, almost all the armour and most of the guns.

[Kaplanr]

USS Utah (BB-31) was acting as a gunnery training ship, but underwent refurbishment for return to a combat state in 1940-41.

[Euroamerican]

Looks pretty good.

I see you're not counting Wasp, Shokaku, Zuikaku, North Carolina, Washington....

Since they were still working up or hadn't been commissioned yet, that makes sense to me.

Yould could have some more fun and add the Frogs and the Italians....

[USMC29]

It would be interesting to compare 1945 to these

[TheKiwi]

Depending upon when in 1945 you are evaluating (eg January vs September 1st), you'd see all the Japanese ones gone. Same with most of the US carriers (3 out of 5) and all the British ones, but with lots of new ones added. The US would be minus several Battleships, but with a lot of new ones added. The British would be minus 4 battleships, but with a couple of new ones added.

Here's the Battleships, the CV's requires more research.

September 1945

Royal Navy

BB (8)
HMS Resolution
HMS Revenge
HMS Renown
HMS Nelson
HMS Rodney
HMS King George V
HMS Duke of York
HMS Anson
HMS Howe

Imperial Japanese Navy

BB (1)

Nagato (severely damaged though)

US Navy

BB (25)
USS Arkansas
USS New York
USS Texas
USS Nevada
USS Pennsylvania
USS New Mexico
USS Missippi
USS Idaho
USS Tennesse
USS California
USS Colorado
USS Maryland
USS West Virginia
USS North Carolina
USS Washington
USS South Dakota
USS Indiana
USS Massachusetts
USS Alabama
USS Iowa
USS New Jersey
USS Wisconsin
USS Missouri
USS Alaska (USN considered these very heavy cruisers but to all effects they were a Battlecruiser)
USS Guam (same as USS Alaska)

[Euroamerican]

the number of American carriers is, effectively, too many to list.

CVs plus CVLs... The US had 40 or so.....

Enterprise
Saratoga
Ranger
The entire Essex class, minus Franklin and the ones not commissioned until after September 1945
The CVLs of various classes. Let's leave off the CVEs, unless you want to really run amok.

I'm pretty sure the Japanese had a few carriers left at the end of the war, but they were either not completely fitted out or were in a damaged condition.

[TheKiwi]

Pretty much nothing with a flight deck on it could float for the IJN by the end of the war. There may have been one escort carrier that sank at the docks she was at, and that was about it.

[TheKiwi]

Royal Navy Carriers (I've ignored CVE's, just fleet carriers) (12)

HMS Colossus
HMS Formidable
HMS Glory
HMS Illustrious (but undergoing refit planned to finish in October)
HMS Implacable
HMS Indefatigable
HMS Indomitable
HMS Ocean (Commissioned 08/1945 but immediately taken in hand for modifications)
HMS Unicorn (not a real carrier, an Aircraft Repair ship)
HMS Venerable
HMS Vengeance
HMS Victorious

[CJackson]

Age of the standards in 1939

NEVADA (BB 36) 23
OKLAHOMA (BB 37) 23
PENNSYLVANIA (BB 38) 23
ARIZONA (BB 39) 23
NEW MEXICO (BB 40) 21
MISSISSIPPI (BB 41) 22
IDAHO (BB 42) 20
TENNESSEE (BB 43) 19
CALIFORNIA (BB 44) 18
COLORADO (BB 45) 16
MARYLAND (BB 46) 18
WEST VIRGINIA (BB 48) 16

median age 20.5
average age 20

[CJackson]

Age of the old battleships in 1939

ARKANSAS (BB 33) 27
NEW YORK (BB 34) 25
TEXAS (BB 35) 25

median age 25
average age 25.6

[Honneur et Patrie]

FRANCE :

CV : 1

- BEARN (1928, obsolete)

BB : 7 (+2 under construction)

Richelieu-class (2 under construction) :

- RICHELIEU (unfinished, finished in Brooklyn 1943)
- JEAN BART (unfinished, finished after WWII)

Strasbourg-class (2) :

- STRASBOURG (escaped Mers-el-Kebir, scuttled Toulon 1942, scrapped after WWII)
- DUNKERQUE (damaged at Mers-el-Kebir, raised, scuttled Toulon 1942, scrapped)

Provence-class (3) :

- PROVENCE (grounded at Mers-el-Kebir, partly repaired, scuttled Toulon 1942)
- BRETAGNE (sunk at Mers-el-Kebir with more than 900 deads, raised and scraped after WWII)
- LORRAINE (interned Alexandria, Provence landing in august 1944, disarmed and scrapped in the 50's)

- Courbet-class (2, obsolete) :

- COURBET (seized in Porthmouth during operation Catapult, returned to Free French Navy, served as floating AA batteries during blitz, scuttled near Arromanche in June 1944 as AA batterie and breakwater)
- PARIS (seized durig operation catapult, served as floating barraks, returned to France and scrapped in the 50's)

Two old WW-I dreadnought served as floating baracks in Toulon and Brest, useless (military speaking), even for the germans.

Only Richelieu-class, sadly unfinished, was a real good one : Courbet-class were obsolete (old, poor AA-defence, poor speed), Provence-class was modernized but the addition of material, AA-batteries and armor reduced greatly stability (Bretagne capsized at Mers-el-Kebir, Provence was grounded to avoid a similar fate) and Strasbourg-class was not really a BB-class but an "heavy-armoured-cruiser" one with only 330 mm tubes as primary armement, their sole advantage was their speed (more than 33 knots).