Queen Elizabeth's belt scheme has six inches of upper protection, a thirteen-inch main belt and an eight-inch lower belt. The lower belt is nearly as thick as Tiger's main belt. The battleship combines that protection with 15-inch guns and more concentrated machinery. Its main belt does not extend completely to both ends. In this interpretation, selective protection in Queen Elizabeth and the R class belongs to an evolution toward all-or-nothing armour, developed further in American schemes. Queen Elizabeth is an intermediate example within that argument.
Notable Point · 19:12-20:57
Queen Elizabeth's deeper belts and selective protection
Queen Elizabeth's lower belt nearly matches Tiger's main belt, while selective coverage points toward a different armour philosophy.