How G3 and N3 designs could disrupt rival procurement

Their unfamiliar all-forward layouts advertised that the navy with the greatest recent capital-ship experience had reached different conclusions from its rivals. A 33-knot G3 with nine 16.5-inch guns would already make contemporary programs look conventional and possibly obsolete. The slower N3 then raised the stakes with nine 18-inch guns and very heavy armour, while uncertainty about its reported performance encouraged foreign staffs to assume that British figures might conceal still greater capability. The pair acted as a procurement weapon: even before combat, the designs could force other navies to revisit estimates, defend existing orders, and spend money responding to a British standard they did not fully understand.