Why the Royal Navy chose 14-inch guns for the King George V class

Why did the Royal Navy not field more battleships with 15- or 16-inch guns?

Treaty politics, Chatfield's procurement bargain, and the war's timing determined the choice; disagreement centers on whether triple 15- or 16-inch turrets would have avoided early problems with the quadruple mountings.

Treaty politics and the timing of the Second World War restricted the Royal Navy's plans for more 15- and 16-inch guns. Chatfield's bargain gave Henderson wider control of procurement in return for accepting 14-inch guns in the King George V class. The 14-inch weapon earns praise for its wartime performance, while the competing preference is for triple 15- or 16-inch mountings with fewer early reliability problems. The objection focuses on the quadruple turret's complexity. Its development schedule assumed war around 1942, leaving more time to resolve faults than events allowed. The wider bargain also supported carrier and cruiser designs, so the preferred alternative remains a judgment about the balance of risks.