The ten Didos were not far short of being a waste of space and only under the most favorable of circumstances could they be expected to stand up against a Sverdlov, in reality they could at best be used as destroyer killers. Of the 6inch cruisers the majority were down to just 9 guns, a 25% reduction over their original design and 25% down on the Sverdlovs. Apparently there was a study at one point into converting all the colony class ships and onwards to the Tiger standard that would have provided 15 ships capable of Sverdlov killing (of course this never happened and only Tiger, Lion and Blake were completed to this standard). However the British produce two potential panaceas (neither of which actually enter service). One Blue Slug, a nuclear armed surface to surface version of sea slug, should have given the county class destroyers the capability to take out a Sverdlov. Green Cheese/Green Flash launched from the Buccaneer should have been similarly effective.

On the other hand the USN heavy cruisers were more than capable of dealing with the Soviet 6inchers.

rick, I agree entirely.

The point of the Alaska’s and the Iowas is that they exist and could have been put back into service if required. Their existence would have made the Stalingrads lives very difficult.

The issue for the RN is the appalling state of its cruiser force. It suffered a very high rate of attrition during the war and for the mos part those ships that did survive would have been unable to stand up to the new Soviet light cruisers.

“‘Stalin’s Ocean-Going Fleet: Soviet Naval Strategy and Shipbuilding Programs, 1935-1953’ by J. Rohwer and M. Monakov.”

Thanks for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick

No problem at all.

I should just point out that the reason I am interested in RN response is becouse the RN actually has to respond. The USN on the other hand comes out of the WW2 in a very good state with a powerful fleet of very capable heavy cruisers, the four Iowas and the Alaskas.Nothing in Stalins naval revival really responds to these ships in a viable way.