The Trafalgar class carried four 13.5-inch guns, quick-firing secondary weapons, torpedo tubes, and extensive layers of armour around the belt, citadel, turrets, and command spaces. By this point 13.5-inch weapons were so common in Royal Navy capital ships that Dreadnought's later return to 12-inch guns looks striking. Triple-expansion engines gave the ships modern machinery and a speed of about 16.7 knots. Their decisive limitation was very low freeboard, chosen to reduce the target presented to enemy gunners. Poor seakeeping concentrated their service in the relatively calm Mediterranean and prevented this powerful battle fleet on paper from reliably covering the Royal Navy's worldwide commitments. Older high-freeboard ships and cruisers remained valuable because they could keep the sea in weather that constrained the newer battleships, effectively creating fair-weather and rough-weather fleets.
Chapter · 43:08-47:50
Trafalgar class and the cost of low freeboard
Trafalgar’s formidable armour and modern machinery still could not overcome the operational constraint of a very low-freeboard battleship.