The Francesco Caracciolo class was a well-protected, 28-knot capital ship. Completion would give Italy a fast battle line before adding the Littorios and transform the Mediterranean comparison. In that environment, a slow British Nelson class would be strategically and politically harder to accept. One foreign programme could push later treaty battleships toward higher speed rather than changing only their armament.
Notable Point · 37:01-38:00
Italian speed could have changed Nelson's design
Completed Francesco Caracciolo-class ships might have made a slow Nelson class politically and strategically harder to accept.