Eight fast R-class ships would reset the battleship race

What if all eight R-class ships were 30-knot battleships with nine 15-inch guns?

They would dominate Royal Navy planning, multiply fast-battleship coverage, and force rival designs to become substantially stronger.

The proposed ships combine numbers, 30-knot speed, and a nine-gun 15-inch battery before the treaty era. Britain would modernize them as its leading wartime battlefleet rather than treat them as second-line R-class ships. Eight such vessels would greatly expand the number of units able to pursue Bismarck-like raiders and could support a fast battle squadron alongside a slower modernized Queen Elizabeth group. More importantly, their existence changes the baseline that German, American, and Japanese designers must beat, making later capital ships and even the shape of the Second World War difficult to predict.