The British choice between fifteen- and sixteen-inch guns

Should the King George V class have used fifteen-inch or sixteen-inch guns instead of fourteen-inch weapons?

A high-quality fifteen-inch gun offers the strongest fleet-wide benefit because it could also modernize thirteen existing British capital ships.

A sixteen-inch triple turret could benefit Nelson and Rodney, while a fifteen-inch system would apply to the Queen Elizabeths, R class, Renown, Repulse, and Hood. That gives a new fifteen-inch weapon a much larger installed base than a sixteen-inch alternative. The choice reaches beyond maximizing the new King George V class's gun size. Ammunition, turret-development knowledge, and the possibility of upgrading thirteen existing capital ships give the fifteen-inch program a fleet-wide procurement advantage.