Q&A · 17:07-18:23

Why the Royal Navy did not build faster Nelson repeats

A faster Nelson repeat offered an alternative to the proposed twelve-gun 14-inch battery and a conventional battleship arrangement.

Question

Why did the Royal Navy not build faster repeats of Nelson and Rodney once the treaties fell away?

Short answer

The suggested explanation is a preference for a conventional-looking battleship once the navy committed to a 14-inch quadruple-turret scheme.

Notes

A faster successor could have retained Nelson's compact arrangement and 16-inch guns. The preference here is to develop that existing design and increase its speed. One proposed explanation for abandoning it is the desire for a conventional-looking battleship, reinforced by the move toward twelve 14-inch guns in three quadruple turrets. That armament choice made another all-forward arrangement less attractive to the designers.