Orion as the British dreadnought pattern

Once Britain accepted the Orion layout, later ships could refine the technology without rethinking the whole arrangement. The King George V and Iron Duke classes were successive improvements on the pattern, while the Queen Elizabeth and R classes kept much of its form with one turret removed. The Queen Elizabeth design discussion shows the same caution in propulsion: the Royal Navy considered a 28-knot ship, accepted a 25-knot goal and received ships that generally made about 24 knots. Pursuing the larger leap could have produced a greater advantage, but it also risked technical failure and international reactions that planners could not predict. This continuity places Orion between Dreadnought's experimental opening and the mature British battle fleet of the First World War.