Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:44:45-3:48:20

How triple turrets cascade through British capital ships

Adopting triple 15-inch turrets for the Queen Elizabeth class would propagate through the Revenge class and later battlecruisers, adding roughly half again as many guns and forcing larger, more powerful hulls.

BattlecruisersQueen Elizabeth Class BattleshipsRevenge Class BattleshipsRoyal NavyTurret DesignWorld War I
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Question

What follows if the Royal Navy standardizes triple 15-inch turrets on the Queen Elizabeth class?

Short answer

The entire 15-inch capital-ship family becomes larger and carries about 50 percent more guns, with major effects on speed, modernization, and wartime firepower.

Notes

Triple 15-inch turrets would propagate through every later British capital-ship design. Queen Elizabeth and Revenge become twelve-gun classes, Renown and Repulse carry nine guns, Courageous and Glorious carry six, and Hood carries twelve. Wider and longer hulls could accept more machinery and later modernization. The change would affect speed and upgrade potential as well as broadside weight. Later elevation improvements would make the altered fleet even more dangerous at long range.