Forty thousand tons could rescue the KGV quadruple turret

Would a 40,000-ton treaty limit have made a twelve-gun King George V design practical?

Probably; the added displacement could have made three quadruple 14-inch turrets reliable, although nine modern 15-inch guns offered a stronger fleet-wide upgrade path.

The counterfactual turns the King George V choice into a genuine comparison between nine 16-inch and twelve 14-inch guns. The lighter weapon's rate of fire makes the twelve-gun battery attractive if its mountings work. An extra 5,000 tons would ease the cramped machinery arrangement and give designers more time and space to solve the quadruple turret's problems. A modern nine-gun 15-inch solution remains attractive because it also creates an upgrade path for older British capital ships.