A game restricted to battleship duels encourages designers to discard secondary armament and seek the largest or fastest-firing main battery possible. Under those rules, four quadruple 16-inch turrets become the preferred arrangement. A task-group fight includes cruisers and destroyers, giving the six-inch and pom-pom batteries a distinct purpose. The Queen Elizabeth class provides the model for this broadly useful fast battleship.
Chapter · 21:30-23:21
Designing a general-purpose battleship for fleet action
The secondary battery and anti-aircraft outfit make sense in a balanced fleet action, even if a battleship-only duel rewards heavier main guns.