An authorized or sketched American battleship was not automatically a worked-up answer to the British designs. The G3 combined high speed with 16.5-inch guns, while the N3 paired nine 18-inch guns with massive protection, forcing a response to solve several difficult requirements at once. Paper concepts did not yet have every technology, detail, and construction decision resolved. Even after design work, full slipways meant the United States and Japan still had to finish or abandon ships already under construction.
Notable Point · 1:06:38-1:09:56
Paper battleships were not ready answers to the G3 and N3
A second pass through the counterfactual separates spectacular Tillman-style concepts from buildable ships with mature machinery, protection, and yard support.