HMS Benbow - Iron Duke class Fast Battleship.
With the collapse of the London Naval Treaty the UK still tried to set an example and designed its next generation of battleships to be small but powerful, massing around 35,000 tons (with the class actually coming in at over 38,000 tons due to some changes whilst being built as it became apparent that no one was going to follow the UK's lead and example) the Iron Duke's were a generational improvement upon the Nelson and Admiral classes.
Dimensions
707 ft (oa), 700 ft (wl) long, 103 ft beam, 28 ft draught (normal load)
Armed with 9 x 15-inch Mk 2 guns in three triple turrets the new gun could fire the older shells of the Mk 1 gun easing supply issues. The secondary battery was a point of contention, with a battery of 5.25 guns planned but there were already bottlenecks for this weapon as it was needed on the Dido class AA cruiser, each ship needing 8 of the guns and there was worries that diverting them to the battleships would slow the number of available escorts for the carriers and battleships. Instead 20 x 4.7in/45 Mk.X guns were mounted in paired BD mounts, there being five aside. These could engage surface and air targets and didn't cut into the supply of other guns due to the standardisation on the 4.5-inch gun for RN Destroyers.
AA armament was heavy for the time with 4 x Octuple 2-lb Pom-Pom mounts as well as 2 x quadruple .50cal Vickers machine guns. But as the air threat evolved this armament changed. By 1942 the class had 5 x Octuple Pom-Poms and 2 x quadruple 2pdr as well as 15 x 20mm Oerlikon cannons in single mounts. By 1944 this had grown to 7 x 8 and 2 x 4 2pdr as well as 6 x 2 and 33 x 1 20mm mounts. The final AA fits in 1945 mounted 5 x 8 & 2 x 4 2pdr and 15 x Single 40mm Bofors and 25 x 1 20mm Oerlikons.
The air group was 4 x Walrus spotter planes but these were largely eliminated by 1942 - 43 as the radar fit grew in size and scope
Armour protection was heavy.
Main belt: 15in tapering to 6in at bottom
Deck: 5-6in (2.5in forward, 4.5in over steering gear)
Main Turrets: 14-9in
Barbettes: 14in
Secondary Turrets: 1-0.5in
Bulkheads: 10-12in
Conning Tower: 4-3in
Torpedo Defence: 3-layer (air/liquid/air sandwich), totalling 1.5in thickness
And although 'only' armed with 15-inch guns compared to the American's 16-inch rifles and whatever was being built in Japan, the Iron Duke's were protected against 16-inch gunfire and with their smaller ships, the UK was able to construct them more quickly with HMS Iron Duke and HMS Centurion in active service by 1939 (although Centurion was undergoing trials until November) whilst HMS Benbow, HMS Orion and HMS Monarch would join the fleet in 41, 42, and 43 respectively.