How launch tempo killed the 'super-dreadnought' label

The launch dates show why the Orion class could not hold a stable super-dreadnought identity. The four Orions entered the water between August 1910 and May 1911, and HMS King George V followed in October 1911. That left only months in which the press could treat Orion as an unmatched step above the ordinary dreadnought. Because the next class used the same 13.5-inch armament in a larger and incrementally better ship, the superlative lost its cachet before the earlier class had settled into public memory. Construction tempo and publicity could shape category names independently of fixed engineering definitions.