Hood's 5.5-inch guns become a hypothetical standard for British destroyers. The larger mounts would push destroyers toward roughly 3,000 tons. A light cruiser intended to overmatch those ships would also need to grow, shifting the boundary between the two categories. This counterfactual shows how one armament choice can propagate across an entire fleet's force structure.
Notable Point · 1:04:25-1:05:06
How destroyer guns can force cruiser growth
Choosing 5.5-inch guns for destroyers could enlarge the destroyer and, in turn, force a larger light cruiser to retain an advantage.