A 35,000-ton ship Japan might underestimate

Clarke takes a different approach to the client-state brief: a ship that Japanese planners would consider weak could still serve Manchurian needs. His game design has nine 14-inch guns, twin 4-inch dual-purpose weapons, coal firing, and a speed of 28 knots within 35,000 tons. In this imagined procurement decision, Japan dismisses the smaller guns and modest specification without recognizing the recipient's practical gains. Reduced beam and draft improve access to ports; possible canal use is suggested rather than established. The original thought of 24 knots gives way to 28 because a slow battleship would be difficult to sell by 1940.