What changes if Ernle Chatfield is killed at Jutland?
Short answerAnother First Sea Lord might arrive earlier and the King George V class would probably abandon Chatfield's 14-inch preference for a compromise 15-inch gun.
NotesOther senior officers were less committed to the 14-inch weapon. A 15-inch design could be sold as a sensible midpoint in a 16-inch world while also allowing Britain to reuse ammunition knowledge and potentially modernize older ships around related shells. One admiral's preference may therefore have shaped a decision usually presented as an abstract treaty calculation.