Could America answer Agincourt at two ships a year?

Could Congress answer one Agincourt by ordering two comparable battleships a year?

It could, but Britain had the capacity to match that rate, and the United States would first need time to develop an 18-inch gun.

Congress might treat a single 18-inch Agincourt as the beginning of another large British programme. If the United States answered with two such ships a year, Britain's existing industrial base could match that construction rate. An American response would still require time to develop the gun before building ships around it. British knowledge of American 16-inch work before its public announcement provides a precedent for early warning. Engineering contacts, alongside intelligence networks, are suggested as probable ways news of later developments would travel in both directions.