This is an estimation of the starting fleets for Euro40 and Global40.
I am using almashir’s research of countries’ real life fleets in 1940. His information was in a thread titled “what will be wrong with Euro40”, and that just did not sound correct for this topic, so I have created this thread.
@almashir:
Well, to give you an idea of why the disposition of the French fleet might make a difference, the list below is my best guess (I spent some time researching it) about actual fleet strength around May-June 1940:
(Abbreviations: BB=battleship (includes battlecruisers), CA=heavy cruiser, CL=light cruiser, DD=destroyer, CV=carrier, SS=sub)
US: 15 BB, 18 CA, 19 CL, 118 DD, 7 CV, 112 SS (+2 more BB built but undergoing sea trials, and 4 more under construction. Also had a CV and 15 DD under construction)
Britain (includes ANZAC, Canada, etc.): 16 BB, 21 CA, 49 CL, 214 DD, 6 CV, 78 SS (+1 BB built, and 5 more under construction. +8 more CL under construction, with 6 of those almost finished. +7 CV under construction, with 2 of those almost finished. Also 65 more DD either under construction or in the process of being transferred from the US under Lend Lease)
France: 8 BB, 7 CA, 11 CL, 70 DD, 20-30 SS (+2 more BB nearly built).
USSR: 3 BB, 4 CA, 2 CL, 68 DD, 218 SS (+2 more BB under construction. Note: Many of these ships were leftovers from the Tzar’s navy, and had not been modernized or properly maintained).
Germany: 4 BB, 7 CA, 6 CL, 26 DD, 240 SS (+1 CV and probably a couple of hundred SS under construction)
Netherlands: 5 CL, 12-14 DD
Japan: 10 BB, 18 CA, 20 CL, 108 DD, 8 CV, 68 SS (+2 BB, 2 CL, 15 DD, and 6 CV under construction)
Italy: 6 BB, 9 CA, 13 CL, 59 DD, 146 SS (+2 BB, 4 CL, and 1 CV under construction)
Since Japan is the only power that we have the games full navy setup and real life navy size, I have used it as the baseline for getting the ratios for estimating other powers navies. Since the game does not have heavy and light cruisers I have combined them. I have ignored any units under construction as those can be shown by players purchasing those units.
Japan’s real navy: 10 BB, 38 CA, 108 DD, 8 CV, 68 SS
Japan’s game navy: 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 DD, 3 CV, 2 SS
Ratio of real to game: 5/1, 19/1, 27/1, 8/3, 34/1
Using the preceding ratios we get the following game navies
USA’s game navy: 3 BB, 1.9 CA, 4.3 DD, 2.6 CV, 3.3 SS
Commonwealth’s game navy: 3.2 BB, 3.7 CA, 7.9 DD, 2.3 CV, 2.3 SS
France’s game navy: 1.6 BB, 0.9 CA, 2.6 DD, 0 CV, 0.7 SS
USSR’s game navy: 0.6 BB, 0.3 CA, 2.5 DD, 0 CV, 6.4 SS
Germany’s game navy: 0.8 BB, 0.7 CA, 1 DD, 0 CV, 7 SS
Italy’s game navy: 1.2 BB, 1.2 CA, 2.2 DD, 0 CV, 4.3 SS
Now with my professional fudging and some sketchy reasoning I will put what I assume will be the games starting navy sizes.
USA will probably be slightly reduced as this has been seen in 1942 version where USA navy should be WAY bigger, but for balance reasons they are reduced. France battleships will probably be rounded down to show that it was not fully cohesive navy. USSR will mostly be rounded down as its navy was mostly older ships. Germany will probably be very close to ratio. Italy will probably have less subs as they were not 4/7ths as effective as Germany’s subs.
USA’s game navy: 3 BB, 2 CA, 4 DD, 2 CV, 2 SS
Commonwealth’s game navy: 3 BB, 4 CA, 8 DD, 1 CV, 2 SS
France’s game navy: 1 BB, 1 CA, 2 DD, 0 CV, 1 SS
USSR’s game navy: 0 BB, 0 CA, 2 DD, 0 CV, 2 SS
Germany’s game navy: 1 BB, 1 CA, 1 DD, 0 CV, 7 SS
Italy’s game navy: 1 BB, 1 CA, 2 DD, 0 CV, 2 SS