Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 7:36:03-7:37:24

The Lion class as Britain's Iowa equivalent

The planned Lion class provides a British fast-battleship counterpart to Iowa, with nine 16-inch guns and a strong emphasis on useful speed at sea.

16-inch GunsBattleship DesignFast BattleshipsIowa Class BattleshipsLion Class BattleshipsRoyal NavyUS Navy
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Question

What would a British version of the Iowa class look like?

Short answer

The planned Lion class is the proposed counterpart: a roughly 30-knot fast battleship with nine 16-inch guns.

Notes

The planned Lion class fills the British fast-battleship role in this comparison. Its broad specification is nine 16-inch guns and about 30 knots, with emphasis on maintaining useful speed in rough weather. A British equivalent need not reproduce Iowa's hull or every design choice. A more ambitious scenario with twelve 16.5-inch guns and 32 knots is mentioned separately and set aside as a demanding hypothetical.