A twelve-gun Littorio counterfactual

The Littorio class is praised as an efficient and sensible Axis capital-ship design, though its nine-gun arrangement looks unfinished after Italy accepted a standard displacement near 41,000 tons. The explicitly hypothetical alternative would fit four triple 15-inch turrets and abandon any pretence of remaining within the treaty. In this counterfactual, a ship launched on that basis in 1937 might have kept the Vickers 14-inch proposal away from Chatfield and the Royal Navy because no equivalent Axis design could plausibly be claimed. The example shows how visible non-compliance and perceived capability can alter another navy's procurement choices.