After building the 24-gun ship, the design is checked against A. D. Zinn's 1975 Warship International article on the American maximum battleship proposals. The reference identifies Tillman IV-2 as the proposal with fifteen 18-inch guns. The game model uses 18-inch/45 weapons, then adjusts the gun arrangement, armour, fore-and-aft balance, and stability before facing Yamato. In the trial, the aft turrets alone are compared with Yamato's main-battery firepower, leaving the forward turrets as extra weight of fire. Consulting the published reference changes the ship under examination rather than merely supplying extra detail. Even the corrected headline battery must still fit within the rest of the hull.
Chapter · 29:20-37:45
Tillman IV-2 turns fifteen 18-inch guns into a design problem
Checking A. D. Zinn's 1975 article changes the exercise from a 24-gun Tillman IV to Tillman IV-2 with fifteen 18-inch/45 guns.