Comments by "Doug JB" (@dougjb7848) on "The Drydock - Episode 213 (Part 2)" video.

@redactedredacted4080 This would not have resulted in a faster ship because USN had set 21 kts as the standard speed of the battle line. If the New York class had three triple turrets that resulted in weight savings compared to five twins, they might have had thicker armor, more secondary armament, and / or greater range, but they would not have become “America’s Queen Elizabeth.”
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⁠⁠⁠ @kurtkuczynski Actually, guns of X size are ordered as soon as the navy in question decides the next class will have those guns, not when construction of the ships themselves is formally ordered. Specific to Lexington, a prototype 16”/50 Mark 2 was tested and proven on 8 April 1918. I can’t find info on when the design and construction of that gun was started, but it was certainly before 1918. Design proposals for the ships themselves were still being submitted and debated in June 1918, and the ships were not officially ordered until many months after the gun intended for the ships was ready for use. Design work for the 16”/50 for the Iowa class began in early 1939, before Iowa and New Jersey were ordered built. The class could not use the 16”/50 Mk2 built for the Lexington because that gun was much too heavy.
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