1911, and its keel was laid on 14 September 1911. The design called for fourteen 12-inch guns, an extreme number that historian David Topliss attributed to political necessity: the ship had to appear more powerful to the Brazilian populace than her predecessors (with twelve 12-inch guns) but, without increasing the gun size, the only option left was increasing the total number of guns. Design and description General characteristics Agincourt had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of at deep load. She displaced at load and at deep load. The ship had a metacentric height of at deep load. She had a large turning circle, but manoeuvred well despite her great length. She was considered to be a good gun platform. When she came to serve in the Royal Navy, Agincourt was considered a particularly comfortable ship and very well-appointed internally. A knowledge of Portuguese was necessary to work many of the fittings—including those in the heads—as the original instruction plates had not all been replaced when she was taken over by the British. In 1917, her crew numbered 1,268 officers and men. Propulsion Agincourt had four Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each of which drove one propeller shaft. The high-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the wing shafts while the low-pressure ahead and astern turbines drove the inner shafts. The three-bladed propellers were in diameter. The turbines were designed to produce a total of , but achieved more than during her sea trials, slightly exceeding her designed speed of . The steam plant consisted of twenty-two Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers with an operating pressure of . Agincourt normally carried of coal, but could carry a maximum of , as well as of fuel oil to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for at a speed of . Electrical power was provided by four steam-driven reciprocating electrical generators. Armament Agincourt mounted fourteen BL 12-inch Mk XIII 45-calibre guns in seven twin hydraulically powered turrets, unofficially named after the days of the week, starting from Sunday, forward to aft. This was the largest number of turrets and heavy guns ever mounted on a dreadnought battleship. The guns could be depressed to −3° and elevated to 13.5°. They fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ; at 13.5°, this provided a maximum range of just over with