An early King George V program replaces the R class

Under the proposed London treaty quota, Britain can build five capital ships between 1931 and 1936, so the next name in the sequence becomes an earlier King George V class. The likely design retains the F3-derived emphasis on about 28 knots and nine 15-inch guns rather than returning to a slow battle-line ship. These ships would most plausibly replace the Revenge or R class, while Tiger could survive as a gunnery-training and relief ship within the faster fleet. The five new ships and the F3-derived Nelson and Rodney would provide seven ships capable of roughly 28 knots. Alongside the three faster battlecruisers, they would leave the five Queen Elizabeths as the slower part of the proposed fifteen-ship fleet.