Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Notable Point · 3:00:32-3:05:31

Panama limits make Tillman III plausible enough to change later fleets

Off-the-shelf U.S. weapons and Panama Canal dimensions make Tillman III more credible than later maximum designs, while its existence forces Japan, Germany, and Britain into costlier responses.

Bismarck Class BattleshipsBureau Of Construction And RepairIowa Class BattleshipsJapanese NavyMontana Class BattleshipsNaval Arms RacePanama CanalShip DesignTillman Maximum Battleship DesignsTillman III Battleship DesignUS NavyYamato Class Battleships
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Notes

Tillman III is the more plausible choice in this counterfactual because the Americans already had triple turrets and 16-inch guns. Tillman IV's 24-gun arrangement would be more complicated and slower, at about 25.2 knots. The Bureau of Construction and Repair constrained the maximum-battleship studies to the Panama Canal locks, keeping even these large ships within a defined infrastructure limit. Tillman III's 30 knots and twelve-gun battery would then set a different standard for later fleets. In this scenario, Bismarck and Yamato would need different designs, while a Japanese response would place severe pressure on the country's interwar economy.