A postwar generation of battleships would probably have used automatic main guns if construction had resumed. Britain retained Lion-class hulls for a time and continued to study a successor to Vanguard into the late 1940s, showing that the design question did not vanish immediately in 1945. The Royal Navy's actual postwar automatic six-inch and three-inch weapons pursued very high performance. At extreme rates and angles, however, the mechanisms could damage themselves. The concept was credible, but the weapons needed a deeper development program than postwar construction plans provided.
Chapter · 31:19-35:10
Postwar automatic guns outran their development base
Britain's postwar automatic six-inch and three-inch guns promised exceptional performance but lacked the production depth needed to mature them.