How might the Radetzky class and other ships change if Dreadnought appeared one or two years earlier?
Short answerAustria-Hungary could adapt Radetzky into an all-big-gun ship, while Britain might build 14-inch, nearly 30-knot Invincibles with a cleaner turret layout.
NotesSkoda's heavy-gun capacity gives Austria-Hungary a realistic path to revising the Radetzky design in response. Three early British dreadnoughts with 14-inch guns would also shock Germany and reset the standard other navies had to meet. If superfiring were accepted, the Invincible class might use two forward turrets and one aft instead of wing turrets. A longer, slimmer hull and concentrated battery could then support a speed closer to 30 knots. The earlier South Carolina counterfactual thus propagates into Austro-Hungarian battleships and British battlecruisers.