Admiral Ernest King reportedly liked HMS Prince of Wales, and the King George V class was a capable battleship design. Its completed main battery comprised ten 14-inch guns rather than the twelve-gun arrangement once considered. The preferred counterfactual is nine 15-inch guns in three triple turrets, or ideally nine 16-inch guns in the same layout. The 15-inch option might have avoided some of the actual design's problems, but it remains a preference about an unbuilt alternative.
Notable Point · 51:35-53:01
A King George V class armament counterfactual
Ernest King's reported approval of Prince of Wales leads into an assessment of the class and alternatives to its ten-gun 14-inch battery.