The case for retaining recent pre-dreadnoughts had practical limits. USS Texas had enjoyed a useful and eventful early career, but by 1905 she offered no meaningful value. The Royal Sovereigns still possessed strong sea-going qualities, yet their guns had fallen short of contemporary needs. Continued service therefore did not prove that every older battleship remained equally useful. A navy had to distinguish recent ships worth retaining from designs whose armament, machinery, or overall performance had fallen too far behind.
Notable Point · 22:47-23:24
Useful older ships still had limits
Continued service did not make every older battleship equally valuable: USS Texas and the Royal Sovereigns illustrate designs whose usefulness had sharply declined by 1905.