G3s could set a 16.5-inch treaty limit

A treaty built around completed G3s might accept their 16.5-inch guns rather than force an expensive redesign to 16 inches. Britain could reasonably refuse to develop replacement guns solely to satisfy a half-inch reduction demanded by other powers. That limit narrows the attraction of 18-inch weapons because the smaller gun retains a better rate of fire while still firing a very heavy shell. By the Second World War, modernized G3s could replace older battlecruisers as the Royal Navy's fast capital ships alongside the King George V class.