Project 23 could prolong Western missile capital ships

Would Vanguard and the King George V class be enough if the Soviet Union completed Project 23 battleships?

Vanguard might handle one opponent, but numbers and speed would be inadequate, making a later missile capital ship more plausible as the Western response.

Western surface-to-air missiles could also serve as formidable anti-surface weapons, especially when striking from above. Vanguard might be able to confront a Project 23 battleship, but one ship cannot cover a fleet and the King George V class would be too slow for the role described. British planners expected that some form of large missile capital ship might emerge. A stronger Soviet capital-ship program could therefore preserve battleships as transitional platforms instead of allowing the concept to be abandoned as quickly as it was historically.