Queen Elizabeth's design studies included a ten-gun, 21-knot ship resembling an enlarged Iron Duke. Other proposals explored eleven guns through mixed twin and triple mountings, or twelve guns in an arrangement resembling an American standard battleship. Trying to combine ten guns with 25 knots would have made the ship so large and expensive that only two or three were considered affordable at a time. Selecting eight guns allowed a faster design to be built in greater numbers. The heavier 15-inch shell still gave eight guns a broadside weight greater than ten 13.5-inch weapons. The unusual decision was to build the lighter, faster option that earlier British studies had repeatedly considered.
Chapter · 27:25-29:03
Why Queen Elizabeth traded two guns for speed
An eight-gun Queen Elizabeth could combine speed with an affordable class size and still throw a heavier broadside than ten 13.5-inch guns.