Japan's three new fast battleships

The revised settlement gives Japan a tangible gain instead of asking it only to accept a lower ratio. Three new 35,000-ton, 16-inch-gun battleships would join six retained battleships and four battlecruisers, creating a thirteen-ship capital force. The likely class would merge dreadnought protection with battlecruiser speed as a true fast battleship. A 28- to 30-knot design would probably need nine guns in triple turrets rather than the ten guns of more ambitious Japanese schemes. Yuzuru Hiraga's design lineage supplies a plausible starting point for fitting that speed and armament inside the treaty ceiling.