The Royal Navy had access to a plausible 14-inch gun and preliminary triple-turret work, but chose proven 12-inch equipment for speed and reliability. A fifteen-gun ship would have overwhelmed contemporary German 11-inch designs and made early American triple-expansion ships visibly obsolete. Rival projects might have been paused, cancelled, or substantially redesigned to meet a 24-knot, fifteen-gun baseline. The United States might have responded fastest, yet even its new ships would have struggled to qualify beside so dramatic a standard. The first representative of a type can redefine the category and force every competitor to revise its plans.
Chapter · 28:35-32:21
A fifteen-gun Dreadnought changes the global baseline
A counterfactual 24-knot Dreadnought with fifteen 14-inch guns would have forced rival navies to redesign ships, yards, and budgets around a radically higher standard.