Hopkins and White prioritize Royal Sovereign seakeeping

Vice Admiral John Hopkins wanted heavy guns to work in ships that could remain effective in difficult weather around the world. White's Royal Sovereign design changed hull form, beam, and internal priorities to improve seakeeping. That emphasis did not mean light protection: the ships carried an armor belt up to 18 inches thick and 17-inch protection around their main guns. Within the class, the main armament also moved from open mounts toward the fully enclosed turrets fitted to Hood. Eight ships meant that this worldwide fighting capability would arrive as a force rather than as an isolated prestige vessel. The class marks a transition from ironclad battleships toward the form commonly labeled pre-dreadnought, while showing how a new naval client's priorities could produce a very different ship from the same architect. Calling this the "Royal Sovereign era" treats those ships as their contemporaries' reference point, while "pre-dreadnought" classifies them retrospectively.