The R class helped establish a new British baseline of 15-inch-gun battleships while more ambitious gun projects remained under consideration. Britain was also watching the United States, Japan, and Italy in a qualitative race that differed from the numerical contest with Germany. The cancelled sixth Queen Elizabeth-class ship, proposed 16.5- and 18-inch weapons, and long-lead boiler clues support a reconstruction of overlapping design programs. Naval procurement appears here as a moving pipeline in which guns, machinery, and hull concepts could outlive the project that first ordered them.
Notable Point · 6:01-8:21
Big-gun competition beyond Germany
A design discussion places British 15- and 18-inch gun work within qualitative competition involving the United States, Japan, and Italy.