 After the loss of the fast battleship <unk> at the Naval Battle of <unk> in late 1942 to rudder damage , the <unk> decided to reinforce the protection of the steering compartment and to create an auxiliary steering compartment . The protection of the former was strengthened by the addition of a concrete wall at least 1 metre ( 3 ft 3 in ) in thickness and some of the armour removed from the turrets was used to protect the latter . The double bottom below the former positions of aft turrets was converted to hold fuel oil ; this increased the ships ' endurance to 9 @,@ 500 nautical miles ( 17 @,@ 600 km ; 10 @,@ 900 mi ) at a speed of 16 knots . A pair of Type 22 surface @-@ search <unk> were also fitted during the conversion . 
