Editing Nelson-class battleship (section)

==Background and design==
The [[Battle of Jutland]] had shown the value of [[fire power|firepower]] and [[armour|protection]] over speed and manoeuvrability.<ref>{{cite book |title=British Battleships 1939–45 (2): Nelson and King George V Classes |first=Angus |last=Konstam |publisher=Osprey Publishing |series=New Vanguard No. 160 |date=2009 |isbn=9781846033896 }}.</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}}

The next generation of British warships incorporated this lesson. After [[World War I]], the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] drew up plans for massive, heavily armoured [[battlecruiser]]s and battleships, far larger and stronger than all previous vessels. The {{sclass2|G3|battlecruiser|2}}s would carry {{convert|16|in|mm|0|adj=on}} guns, and the proposed {{sclass2|N3|battleship|2}}s would carry nine {{convert|18|in|mm|0|adj=on}} guns, and would be the most powerful vessels afloat. The Royal Navy was planning to hold its superiority in the burgeoning arms race, despite the large warships planned in Japan and the United States.<ref name="PrestonB">Preston 1981</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}}

Development was abruptly curtailed by the [[Washington Naval Treaty]] of 1922, which brought the arms race to a halt. The four battlecruisers that had been ordered were cancelled. Some of the material acquired would later be used in ''Nelson'' and ''Rodney''. The Treaty limited all nations' battleships to maximum limits of 35,000&nbsp;tons and 16-inch guns. The British had successfully ensured that the definition of maximum displacement – the [[standard displacement]] – excluded both fuel and boiler feed water. They had argued that having to protect the widespread [[British Empire]] meant their ships had to carry more of both and they should not be penalised compared to nations, such as Japan, France and Italy, that operated normally much closer to their home bases. As a result, water-filled [[Anti-torpedo bulge|internal anti-torpedo bulges]] could be incorporated, which did not contribute to the "dry" (standard) weights and therefore did not exceed the treaty displacement limits.<ref name="PrestonB"/>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}}

The limits of the treaty inevitably led to compromises in the design of two new ships, and the resulting ''Nelson'' class sacrificed installed power (and hence speed) in order that the ships be well-armed and defended. They were often referred to as the [[Mason Locke Weems#Cherry-tree anecdote|"Cherry Tree"]] class, because they had been "cut down by Washington".<ref name="PrestonB"/> The need to limit displacement resulted in a radical new warship design, drawn from the "G3" and "N3" designs of [[Sir Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, 1st Baronet|Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt]], [[Director of Naval Construction]] from 1912 to 1924. To reduce the weight of armour, the main gun turrets were all mounted forward to shorten the armoured citadel. The "G3" and "N3" had two turrets forward of the bridge with the third between the bridge and the funnels/aft superstructure. However, in the ''Nelson''s, this was taken further and all three were in front of the bridge; "B" mount superfiring over "A", with "X" turret on the forecastle deck behind "B", and therefore unable to fire directly forward or aft. "X" turret is sometimes referred to as "C" turret and one alternative design, designated "O3", had it superfiring over both "A" and "B" turrets.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}} The secondary guns were placed in totally enclosed director-controlled twin turrets at the upper deck level and were grouped aft – another innovative element taken from the G3 and N3 design.<ref name="PrestonB"/><ref name="referenceD">Brown 1999, p.</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}}

The machinery was of necessity limited in weight, size and installed power, and there were only two shafts with quite large screws. All previous British battleships after {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} of 1906 had four screws as did all British battleship classes after ''Nelson''. In order that fuel gasses be kept clear of the superstructure, the boiler rooms were moved behind the engine rooms, exhausting into a single funnel. This orientation also reduced the overall length of the armoured citadel. As a countermeasure to the limited power, the hull was of a very efficient hydrodynamic form, to attain the best possible speed.<ref name="referenceD"/>{{Page needed|date=March 2023}}