The British opponent explores the automatic 14-inch gun that Admiral Chatfield hoped the King George V design could eventually receive. A 59-calibre weapon represents the still longer 60- or 70-calibre gun that sustained development might have made possible. Super-heavy shells improve maximum range, penetration and damage, but they also increase barrel erosion. The simulation therefore treats the weapon as a system of loading machinery, ammunition, fire control and maintenance demands rather than as a simple calibre change. Its assumptions are deliberately counterfactual, because the required technologies did not mature together before the historical ships were built.
Chapter · 15:54-20:29
Modernising Chatfield's King George V gun system
The British test ship combines Admiral Chatfield's automatic 14-inch concept with a longer barrel, super-heavy shells and modernised fire control.