A twelve-gun Bismarck would push King George V toward heavier weapons

Would Britain answer a twelve-gun 15-inch Bismarck by giving King George V four quadruple 14-inch turrets?

Probably not. The German escalation would undermine the treaty logic for 14-inch guns and push Britain toward fewer, heavier 15- or 16-inch weapons.

Chatfield's support for the 14-inch gun depended heavily on the prospect of an enforceable treaty limit. A German battleship armed with twelve 15-inch guns would show that a nonsignatory had escaped that framework before Britain's design was fixed. The Admiralty would likely favor heavier 15- or 16-inch weapons rather than force sixteen 14-inch guns into four very complex quadruple turrets. The threat would also make a construction pause harder to defend because existing British ships could not confidently answer the new design.