After a long hiatus from drawing, I am slowly revisiting this thread. My ultimate aim is to complete the G3s and then make some updates to the rest before moving on the remainder of the series.
This is the preliminary G3 design of February 1921, based on Darth's original drawing but with probably a 90% redraw of most elements, not least of which the correction of the hull length which was too long.
An impressive design even in its earliest form, the G3 essentially was an I3 but with 16in guns with 3in deck armour over the machinery spaces and 8in (9in slopes) over the main magazines and 7in over the after 6in magazine. Secondary armament was eight twin 6in, 5 single 4.7in and four pom-pom mounts. Very cramped aft, the 160,000shp machinery was crammed in for just 32kts speed, some 7.5% power being lost due to the distortion of the aft hull lines at this early stage of design.