The triple-turret St Vincent alternative

The earlier X4 proposal for Bellerophon combined a triple turret forward and aft with two twin turrets amidships in an echelon arrangement. St Vincent studies revisited triple 12-inch turrets as the Royal Navy moved from 45-calibre to 50-calibre guns. One option used four triples spaced along the hull, resembling Gangut, but was rejected as too large, costly, and ambitious. Another used just three triples, with one on the centreline amidships. It sacrificed one nominal gun compared with X4 while saving weight and providing a nine-gun salvo across much more of the broadside. The echelon arrangement offered eight guns over much of its useful arc, with ten available only across narrow angles. Budget cuts and politics ultimately favoured another conservative development of Bellerophon. Had the triple-turret alternative been adopted, later designs could have moved the amidships turret into a superfiring position and developed nine- or twelve-gun centreline batteries before the change to 13.5-inch guns.