Ersatz Monarch class: the 14-inch battleships that never sailed

The proposed Ersatz Monarch class would have carried ten 14-inch guns in two triple and two twin turrets. A three-triple alternative could have standardised maintenance and reduced crew demands while preserving the six-gun forward salvo valued for ranging. The official arrangement still gave the ships five guns at either end. The ten 14-inch guns are estimated in the discussion as roughly matching the firepower of fifteen 12-inch guns. Personnel mattered because each planned ship required roughly 1,100 people from a navy normally numbering only about 20,000 to 30,000. Skoda developed the 350 mm weapon, and the gun design later found use as heavy siege artillery during the First World War. The ships were never completed, so their wartime effect remains a counterfactual. Even one completed unit could have materially strengthened the Adriatic fleet.