The United States answers with turbines, guns, and turrets

South Carolina-class ships would look less competitive if British capital ships combined a heavy broadside with high speed. Matching that speed would push the United States toward turbines instead of continuing to compare turbine ships with triple-expansion machinery. The country has the industrial capacity to answer with larger guns, but American practice normally seeks to exceed rather than merely duplicate a British calibre jump. Triple turrets remain a timing problem because the path from the South Carolina programme to a working battleship mounting historically took about six years. A much more heavily armed Dreadnought could therefore provoke an earlier crash programme while still leaving the first American response dependent on what machinery and mountings were actually ready.