A hypothetical move from twelve-inch to fourteen-inch guns changes the precedent for Britain's next increase in calibre. Repeating a two-inch step would give the Queen Elizabeth class sixteen-inch guns instead of the historical fifteen-inch battery. The same scenario extends to the R class, Renown, Repulse and Hood. A large British fleet of sixteen-inch ships would change the balance facing treaty negotiators if other navies retained only a few such vessels. The historical British progression was twelve-inch, 13.5-inch and fifteen-inch guns.
Notable Point · 44:03-44:48
How a fourteen-inch Orion could have changed later gun choices
A counterfactual two-inch progression links the Orion gun decision to sixteen-inch later battleships and a different balance at the Washington negotiations.