A delayed Second World War and a continuing Yamato program might have pushed the Royal Navy through several steps of Lion-class development. The first four ships could have carried nine guns, followed by two twelve-gun ships. A further pair might then have used four quadruple turrets, for sixteen guns in total. This is a counterfactual rather than a claimed building program. It shows how an opponent's construction choices can force a navy to revise its answer more than once.
Notable Point · 3:02-3:28
How Britain might answer continued Yamato construction
If Yamato construction continued and war waited until 1945, Britain might answer with successive Lion groups carrying nine, twelve, and eventually sixteen guns.