The Queen Elizabeth class gained a useful speed advantage while leaving more extreme options unused. British yards could plausibly have supported a counterfactual ship with small-tube boilers for about 28 knots and triple turrets carrying twelve 15-inch guns. This illustrates available technology and does not describe the class as built. Such a battleship would have set a far higher benchmark while Britain was already managing a costly numbers race with Germany. Restraint could therefore be a strategic design choice even when engineers had more ambitious options.
Notable Point · 51:43-53:10
The more extreme Queen Elizabeth Britain could have built
Britain could have pursued a 28-knot Queen Elizabeth with twelve 15-inch guns, but exploiting every available technology would have intensified the numerical and technological competition.