German claims forced realistic Orion-class armour trials

Jellicoe could not yet reform trials for guns and shells, but he could change armour testing from the Orion class onward. Press claims that German 11-inch guns could penetrate British armour created political pressure for evidence. When manufacturers proposed inadequate trials, the Royal Navy's construction leadership used barges and full-size hull sections as targets for suitably powerful guns. The more realistic trials supported thicker, better armour on British capital ships. The aside that battlecruisers were treated as cruisers matters because protection requirements were tied to role rather than simply copied from battleships.