A British fast-battleship answer to the Francesco Caracciolo class

How would the Royal Navy answer completed 28,000-ton Francesco Caracciolo-class fast battleships?

Britain could answer with a roughly 40,000-ton F3-derived fast battleship carrying nine 16-inch guns and making more than 29 knots.

The Francesco Caracciolo class would be faster than many existing French and British battleships and could shift the Mediterranean balance. A likely British response is a treaty-compliant development of the F3 concept. At roughly 40,000 tons, with nine 16-inch guns and a speed above 29 knots, that design would restore a decisive qualitative margin. A larger ceiling would permit such counter-designs within the treaty and prevent one regional power's fast ships from going unanswered.