How Italian speed could ripple through three fleets

British boiler and armour upgrades might bring the Queen Elizabeth class toward 27 or 28 knots while making Nelson and Rodney faster within treaty limits. Britain could concentrate resources on those ships and perhaps retain Tiger to assemble a Mediterranean group able to match Italy's four fast capital ships. That response would reshape more than hardware because fleet organisation and deployment would also have to reflect the geography of the Suez route. Japan had sought speed to choose when to engage a numerically superior American fleet, but the end of the Anglo-Japanese alliance meant a faster Royal Navy could no longer be ignored as an abstract concern. One regional fleet problem could therefore alter British posture, Japanese operational planning, and the competitive pressure felt by the United States.