Balancing firepower, armour and speed

The American design wins a simple armour-and-gun-count comparison, although that does not make it the best fleet battleship. Warship design requires a balance among firepower, armour and speed rather than maximising one corner of the familiar design triangle. The displacement needed to approach that balance changes as navies move from 12-inch weapons to 14-, 16- or 18-inch guns. A design that appears central and efficient for one generation may become badly skewed in another. Fleet performance can therefore favour a balanced British ship over a more powerful American individual unit.