Many export dreadnoughts sacrificed two or three inches of armour to obtain more firepower, greater speed or a smaller hull. At longer ranges, roughly nine inches of belt armour could still provide useful protection against 12-inch fire and dominate most of a smaller opponent's older fleet. That protection would not keep out contemporary 14- or 15-inch shells. One explanation is that buyers accepted this vulnerability to threaten disproportionate damage with their own heavy guns. Each side might hope to destroy the opposing navy's weaker ships first and then concentrate its surviving fleet against the remaining dreadnoughts. If both sides followed that plan, training, skill and maintenance would help decide which could carry it through.
Notable Point · 2:12:29-2:15:50
Export dreadnoughts traded protection for deterrent firepower
A roughly nine-inch belt could protect an export dreadnought against much of a regional fleet while leaving it vulnerable to the rival navy's newest heavy guns.