Insights from microstructure and mechanical property comparisons of three pilgered ferritic ODS tubes

•Pilger processing is a viable path towards manufacturing thin-walled ODS alloys for cladding applications.•Oxide morphology variations illustrate their size-dependent resistance to dislocation-shear during processing.•Specimen failure at room temperature is dominated by grain boundary decohesion even for recrystallized ODS ferritic tubes•Differences in predictive accuracy of hardening models are revealed when applied to highly anisotropic ODS microstructures.