Because the Tiger Cubs would be laid down before the Queen Elizabeth class, their small-tube boilers could become a live Royal Navy experiment rather than a paper possibility. Successful construction trials would give designers evidence before machinery decisions for the next battleships were fixed. With a slightly longer hull and related changes, the Queen Elizabeths might reach 28 knots and the R class roughly 25 to 28 knots. The same experiment could produce both a faster cruiser force and a faster British battle line, changing machinery choices, hull proportions, and tactical options before the war.
Notable Point · 38:10-43:27
A test case for faster Queen Elizabeths
Successful pre-war machinery trials could make faster Queen Elizabeth and R-class designs more plausible in this alternate history.