The twelve-gun layout starts overweight, forcing changes to protection and secondary armament. The historical South Dakota armor figures provide a baseline, while the hypothetical belt is reduced to 15 inches and the deck, citadel, and underwater protection are adjusted. Five-inch twin mounts replace the planned six-inch secondary guns, matching American practice while saving weight. Each decision affects the rest of the ship, so no single feature can be maximized in isolation.
Chapter · 10:41-18:10
Balancing armor, secondary guns, and displacement
The proposed ship sheds weight by revising its armor and torpedo protection and replacing six-inch secondary guns with five-inch twins.