This is one of those ships that can give you a real laugh. The Germans made the mistake of trying to build a fleet carrier without first experimenting with something humbler like Argus in the RN, Langley in the USN, and Hosho in the IJN. Given the poor state of warship design in Germany at the time, this first attempt at a brand-new ship type was bound to encounter problems. As I recall, it wasn’t until two years after construction had been halted that the Germans realized they’d miscalculated the weights, giving the ship a permanent 4.5deg list. When work resumed, they fitted her with a bulge to even her out. What do you think of twin casemate mounts? Someone suggested consolidating the 15cm guns by squeezing them into twins, but the instructions got mixed up. They forgot to reduce the number of mounts and thus ended up with twice as many guns, requiring twice as many gunners and twice the ammo–but no one ever provided the additional quarters or magazine space. For the air group, the plan was to use Bf 109 fighters. Have you ever looked at the landing gear of the Bf 109?

Old paint could indeed accumulate in multiple coats. It is reported of Leander-class frigate modernization that paint removal totaled as much as 80 coats and 45 tons.
Chances are that I will never again have anything to say about any post-WWII ship. For me, history comes to a close c1950.

There are no stupid questions

Oh…I must strenuously disagree. I have heard a host of stupid questions in my day. Not that this is one of them, but they’re out there, I assure you.

Bismark and Tirpitz were both beautiful ships, as were the Yamato and the Mushashi. The Hood was a beautiful ship, it still went down to the guns of the Bismark. Good looks are irrelevant, what counts is the fighting capability of the ships. Nelson and Rodney, significantly less attractive ships survived being hit by bombs, gunfire, submarine and aerial lunched torpedoes, glide bombs and mines, returned to action and survived the war. That is the only truly effective and relevant measure of a ships worth.

It is often said that the most beautiful ship is the one that brings you safely home.
In any case, I have to disagree that a ship’s worth must be gauged by its survival. In the WWII setting, that would make the US cruiser Alaska more valuable than the British carrier Ark Royal.

All were sold or lost before the end of WWII except Scarab (broken up 1948), Tarantula (which, apart from not being an insect, was expended as a target 1946), Aphis, and Cockchafer. This last pair was sold off by 1949; I’d be surprised if they weren’t scrapped.

Roberts and Abercrombie were, in my opinion, among the best RN warships of WWII, even though they don’t get much press. They were the last of three monitor classes with the standard 15in twin mount. The first, Marshal Soult and Marshal Ney, was something of a bust as the steering and power plant were awful. Next came Erebus and Terror, much improved; Terror became one of the few warships in history to survive three torpedo hits.

The Montanas would have been the most powerful battleships ever built. They were designed after the USN abandoned its requirement for panamacanalability. With all that added beam, the armor scheme could include its 20deg inclined belt without mounting it internally. The armor was much thickened from Iowa standards, but speed dropped to 28 knots.

Hee! I’m not so good with French either. When I post there, I use the Babelfish translator to do the hard work. But note also that one of the boards there is in English. You can ask questions there and get good answers.