Naval History Forums

What if the KM completed their H-44 study in '39 instead of '44 and what if american intel got their hands on a copy of that study? But they thought it was an actual design and built their own?

Why would they bother building an H-44 when they could have just as easily built a Montana?

Legend wrote:Why would they bother building an H-44 when they could have just as easily built a Montana?

I don't think the Montana design had been finalized in '39.

Well according to wiki at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_class_battleship

The first two vessels were approved by Congress in 1939 ... Preliminary planning for the Montana-class battleships took place in 1939 ...By April 1942, the Montana-class design had been approved

On the other hand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_class_ba ... -44_design implies that the H-39 was the only H class design prior to 1940. The US had already developed an 18" gun but had decided they had reached the point of diminishing returns with it. The timeing does appear to be such that if the German design caused them to revisit this a Montana with 4x2x18" main guns could have been designed. Or it might just have uped the priority for the Montanas.