King George V class: armour for range

The 1911 King George V class increased displacement to 25,830 tons while retaining the Orions' ten 13.5-inch guns. Eighteen water-tube boilers drove the ships to 21 knots, the battleship baseline against which Queen Mary's speed is measured later in the video. A continuous 12-inch belt replaced the earlier class's protection, which varied between eight and twelve inches, but the extra armour reduced cruising range by about 420 nautical miles. The class's June 1914 visit to Kiel tried to improve Anglo-German relations while displaying the size and power Britain could send into German waters.