The Nelson class was not an improvised response created only after the Washington Naval Treaty. Britain could assemble designers who had each worked on many capital ships and consult officers who had operated the world's largest recent battle fleet. Testing and design work on underwater protection continued from wartime experiments through the G3 and N3 programs. The treaty imposed a new weight ceiling on an already mature body of engineering knowledge rather than creating that knowledge. Nelson and Rodney emerged from roughly two decades of construction experience and five concentrated years of development compressed into a politically imposed limit.
Notable Point · 2:15:23-2:18:22
The design experience behind Britain's treaty battleships
Britain's treaty-era innovations drew on continuous battleship construction, experienced design teams, operational knowledge, and years of underwater-protection testing.