 Two turrets were mounted fore in a superfiring pair, while the other three were mounted aft of the main superstructure, all on the centerline. The placement of the rear gun turrets proved problematic. Capps placed the rear superfiring turret, Number 3, closest amidships. Since it represented the greatest weight borne by the ship's structure due to its tall barbette, this placement would allow it support by the greatest amount of underwater volume available. The other two rear turrets, Numbers 4 and 5, were placed level and back to back. This arrangement was detrimental in two ways. First, Number 3 could not fire astern with Number 4 trained forward, which left only the two 12 " guns of Number 5 to do so. Second, because the engine room was situated between Numbers 3 and 4, steam lines ran from the boiler rooms amidships around the ammunition magazine for Number 3 turret to the engine room. These lines, it was later found, had the potential to heat the powder in the magazine and degrade its ballistics. This design flaw was also prevalent in several British dreadnoughts but was considered inescapable by naval designers on structural grounds.
