Clarke recalls an archival remark in which Stanley Goodall praised the unrealized potential of prewar battleship designs, despite his pride in Lion and Vanguard. The possibilities included a faster Queen Elizabeth derivative with 16½-inch guns, subject to Treasury funding and opposition within the navy. Fisher's evolving Incomparable concept moved from 16- or 18-inch weapons to 20-inch guns after an industry contact said a prototype already existed. A later conversation concerned work on a 21-inch breech and still larger weapons. Fisher left the navy before those possibilities became a programme, and the account does not establish a completed 21-inch gun or an approved ship design using one.
Chapter · 31:52-34:19
Fisher's Incomparable and speculative 20-inch guns
Goodall's unrealized prewar ambitions and Fisher's Incomparable show how private heavy-gun development offered possibilities beyond the Royal Navy's approved ships.