This Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts experiment is a fictional ship grounded in early capital-ship design problems. Ajax carries eight 13.5-inch guns and eight turret-mounted six-inch guns on a shallow hull that cannot accept casemates. Its secondary broadside is compared with carrying a Leander-class cruiser's firepower on each side, showing how much anti-cruiser and anti-destroyer weight a capital ship might devote to smaller guns. In the simulated action, the shallow, heavily protected design absorbs punishment at close range but loses the advantages it might have held by staying farther away. Tactical employment can reinforce or squander the strengths built into a ship.
Chapter · 32:42-46:33
An all-centreline 13.5-inch dreadnought experiment
A fictional Ajax design tests an all-centreline 13.5-inch battery, heavy six-inch secondaries, a shallow hull, and the tactical cost of closing range.