How would K2 and K3 battlecruisers compare with G3, and how useful would they be alongside the Nelsons?
Short answerK3 would be a very capable, fast 18-inch-gun capital ship, but its machinery layout raises survivability concerns compared with a more dispersed arrangement.
NotesK3 is described as a 1920 battlecruiser design of about 52,000 tons, armed with nine 18-inch guns and intended to make 30 knots in varied weather. Its heavy belt and deck protection would accompany a broad secondary and anti-aircraft battery. That combination of speed, armour, and firepower could threaten battle lines around the world and makes it more formidable than a simple enlarged G3 comparison suggests. The main caveat is machinery arrangement: concentrating boiler rooms and machinery spaces could leave too much of the propulsion system vulnerable to one damaging hit. The panel would prefer the machinery and boiler spaces to be interleaved so one strike could not disable an entire type of plant.