The build stretches the simulation to its 20.9-inch gun limit and pairs the weapons with a 21-inch main belt and 21-knot speed. The initial design becomes roughly ten thousand tons overweight before every desirable protection and support feature is retained. Weight comes off the deck, superstructure, conning tower, and secondary protection, while machinery and flood-protection choices also change. The completed ship can throw shells to a notional range of about sixty kilometres, but it gives up speed and several layers of resilience to carry that offensive and defensive concentration. The super-battleship specification is a linked displacement problem, rather than a menu of independent maximum values.
Chapter · 1:31:39-1:44:19
The cost of a 21-inch-gun battleship
A request combining approximately 21-inch guns, a 21-inch belt, and 21-knot speed reveals how extreme armament drives displacement and forces compromises elsewhere.