One possibility is that the available heavy mounts had originally been intended for carriers or a cruiser-upgrade project rather than for a destroyer class not yet ordered. Their long lead times and capital-ship character imply that components were probably in the pipeline before the Battle programme existed. The forward positions still gave the guns useful arcs astern, weakening any claim that rearward fire simply did not matter. The missing documentary record keeps the proposed origin a reasoned historical hypothesis rather than a settled conclusion.
Notable Point · 17:59-20:11
A cautious theory about the heavy mounts
Long-lead heavy gun mounts may point to earlier carrier or cruiser plans, though the missing documents leave this as a hypothesis.