Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:22:10-1:22:21

A 40,000-ton King George V could carry four quadruple 14-inch turrets

Additional displacement could turn the class into a much more heavily armed 14-inch-gun battleship.

BattleshipsKing George V Class Battleships (1939)Naval GunneryRoyal NavyWarship Design
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Question

Should the King George V class have been designed at more than 40,000 tons from the beginning?

Short answer

At that size Britain could have built the class with four quadruple 14-inch turrets.

Notes

A 40,000-ton King George V design could support four quadruple 14-inch mountings. That arrangement would make main-battery weight the visible beneficiary of the larger hull. The brief answer illustrates how treaty displacement constrained armament choices before other design tradeoffs were considered.