American sixteen-inch guns and prospective foreign designs would keep the qualitative naval race alive even after Germany's defeat. Britain might answer with sixteen-and-a-half-inch weapons in triple turrets or move directly to eighteen-inch guns. The harder design question is whether to optimize the new battleships for the short-range conditions that destroyed both fleets or assume that no opponent would repeat such an operation. The resulting choice concerns gun calibre, armor, speed, and expected battle range rather than a generic prediction of larger ships.
Notable Point · 1:12:04-1:13:48
The post-battle choice between heavier guns and fighting range
The replacement fleet could adopt sixteen-and-a-half- or eighteen-inch guns, but designers must first decide whether the Channel action is a model or an exception.