Handling 20-inch shells is a machinery problem

How would Britain handle the shell size of a 508 mm or 20-inch gun?

By building larger, reinforced shell hoists and handling machinery rated for the additional load.

The answer treats 20-inch shell handling as an engineering scaling exercise rather than a new physical principle. Designers would enlarge and reinforce the hoists, drive machinery, and guides until they could safely lift and control the heavier ammunition. Every increase would impose more weight, volume, and power demand on the turret and magazine system. The comparison with a heavy-duty lift explains the mechanism while leaving the wider ship-design penalties visible.