The key counterfactual is a ship able to make 28 knots with eight 15-inch guns before the treaty system froze many programmes. Such ships could have challenged existing capital ships in the Mediterranean and forced both Britain and France to consider new answers. Their speed would have made older British battle-line units difficult to use as interceptors. Speed and heavy guns could compel costly responses from rival navies even before the ships fought.
Notable Point · 1:50:39-1:51:40
How Francesco Caracciolo could have disrupted fleets
The uncompleted Italian class is presented as a possible trigger for a faster Mediterranean capital-ship competition.