The Queen Elizabeths were formidable but fell short of the fully realized benchmark that small-tube boilers and greater speed might have produced. Their 15-inch guns helped Britain enter a new calibre first, but machinery choices held the ships nearer 25 than 28 knots. A counterfactual sixth ship, HMS Argincourt, is reconstructed as a possible fast battleship with 18-inch guns. The case remains tentative because it weighs circumstantial design evidence against Admiral Fisher's preference for speed at the expense of armour. No surviving approved plan settles the question.
Notable Point · 20:21-28:30
Queen Elizabeths and the Argincourt counterfactual
The Queen Elizabeth class and a speculative HMS Argincourt illustrate how speed, guns, machinery, and political priorities shape a bid to define the next capital-ship standard.