UNCLASSIFIED

I suspect that this tale is a bit of an urban myth. For one thing, the Anderson Shelters (the outdoor ones) used a lot more metal in toto, albeit this was galvanized sheet, than did the much smaller indoor Morrison shelters. For another, the Admiralty had decided curing the Munich Crises to follow the policy set in 1914 and to suspend or cancel all construction of ships expected to take 36 months or more to complete, should War come. Thus, in OCT 1939, work on the four LION class battleships was suspended. Construction on two of these had begun and these were left on the slipways until 1944 when the shards were dismantled. Construction on the other two had not begun, and these were cancelled in 1941. It is my understanding that no armor plate for any of these had actually been ordered though I would imagine that the manufacturers had been alerted of the schedule and requirements of the forthcoming orders.

Marc

Although VANGUARD was completed, but at a very slow rate with recycled 15-inch guns and turrets. She did not complete until 1946.

Further to the earlier discussion on this thread, there is evidence that IRON DUKE’s guns were not landed. In the Imperial War Museum book on Scapa Flow (full editorial details not to hand, unfortunately) a person serving on IRON DUKE during the war stated that 13.5-inch shells filled her magazines and wondered whether she was still expected to fire them.

If the writer wondered this, there must have still been guns on the ship to fire the ammunition. If the guns were ashore in CD mountings, it would be pointless to retain the ammunition in the ship.

Ric Pelvin IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Australian Defence Organisation and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914. If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact the sender and delete the email.

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