From faster Orions to an early fast-battleship standard

Would faster prewar British battleships make 25 knots the starting point for N3 and Nelson-era designs?

A higher speed standard is plausible, but the earlier changes could reshape Queen Elizabeth and wartime experience so much that a specific N3 or Nelson speed cannot be predicted.

A 23-knot Orion and Iron Duke standard would change the speed advantage expected of later British capital ships. Increasing Queen Elizabeth's speed would probably require another boiler room, rather than the addition of one or two boilers. The estimate considers an Iron Duke with 24 boilers and a Queen Elizabeth with 32. For the latter, roughly 100,000 shaft horsepower could bring about 28 knots and create an early fast battleship. Boiler count alone is insufficient: the comparison gives Tiger 39 older boilers for 85,000 shaft horsepower, against Queen Elizabeth's 24 for 75,000. These are estimates within the counterfactual, with some machinery details recalled from memory. Once those changes are combined with altered First World War experience, the later N3 and Nelson designs cannot be predicted precisely.