Agincourt's Brazilian big-gun ambition

Rio de Janeiro was ordered for Brazil with seven twin turrets and a fourteen-gun broadside. Brazil's earlier battleships already carried twelve 12-inch guns, and Italy's Conte di Cavour carried thirteen, so the new order needed an even larger gun count to look more impressive. A 14-inch-gun alternative was considered and rejected, leaving the design dependent on the number of 12-inch barrels for its prestige. Claims that it had unmatched firepower or might damage its own hull by firing a broadside are treated cautiously because much of that story appears to be unsupported repetition. The fourteen-gun layout makes more sense as part of a regional prestige contest than as proof of an unmatched fighting ship.