The Lord Nelson class combined 12-inch main guns with heavy 9.2-inch secondaries, making it a visible step toward the dreadnought concept. The discussion considers the unrealized possibility of a 14-inch Lord Nelson and how that might have led HMS Dreadnought to receive the same calibre. An 11-inch German response would then have faced a much greater shell-weight disparity than it did historically. A large calibre gap could have made the new British design even harder to answer.
Chapter · 13:21-15:00
Lord Nelson and the road to Dreadnought
The last British pre-dreadnought shows the transition toward heavier, more standardized capital-ship firepower.