Q&A · 49:43-51:29

A five-turret Queen Elizabeth-class design

A capital-ship design answer uses a fifth turret to show how armament, speed, armor, and machinery compound displacement growth.

Question

How large might Queen Elizabeth have become with five twin 15-inch turrets and the desired speed and protection?

Short answer

Preserving five twin 15-inch turrets, armor, and roughly 28 knots would push the design toward about 40,000 tons, a much larger jump from the Iron Duke class.

Notes

Keeping five twin 15-inch turrets while adding small-tube boilers, high speed, and adequate armor would move the ship toward 40,000 tons. The change cannot be measured as a simple historical jump from Tiger to Queen Elizabeth because Tiger is a battlecruiser and the extra turret changes the battleship's internal balance. A single requirement can quickly propagate through an entire design.