Oil firing, Welsh coal, and fleet infrastructure

Could Jellicoe have future-proofed the Queen Elizabeth class with oil firing, small-tube boilers, and three triple turrets?

Only with major prior investment and added risk: Britain lacked a dependable oil stockpile, small-tube machinery was not yet assured, and three turrets would make each turret loss more damaging.

Future-proofing depended on the fuel the Royal Navy could actually obtain. Britain had dependable Welsh coal, while an oil-fired battle fleet required imported supplies, stockpiles, and supporting infrastructure. Once that investment was made, oil became a sensible choice, but the Queen Elizabeth design was already far advanced. Three triple turrets could free machinery space at the cost of losing a third of the main battery if one mounting failed, compared with a quarter in a four-turret ship. A turret could become useless through misalignment or loss of movement without being destroyed. Traces of an earlier ten-gun layout also raise the possibility that the longer hull needed for a fifth turret might have improved efficiency.