An item referred to the newspaper Hampshire Telegraph reporting that serious problems dealing with the secondary armament became visible. It was expected that in the next years for the secondary armament on board of dreadnought would be drastically chosen for new options. The battleships of the shipbuilding program 1911 seemed to be armed with 15 instead of 10,2cm guns. The newspaper Frankische Kourier even claimed that the battleships to be built in 1921 even received a secondary armament of 4x2-23,3cm guns. The ships now on stocks were armed with 10-13,5” guns amidships and 12-15cm anti torpedo boat guns. Fitting out battleships with 15cm guns was already done in the German navy. The result was a somewhat increased displacement compared with the George V-class.(1)
Note
1. The King George V-class had a displacement of 23,400 tonnes and was succeeded by the Iron Duke-class. This class had a displacement of 25.000-29.500 (full load) tons. The armament consisted of 5x2-34,29cm/13.5” guns, 12-15,25cm/6” guns, 2-3” quick firing anti aircraft guns and 4-53,3cm/21” torpedo tubes.
