An odd Super Lion design from the early 1970's

I have a Super Lion drawing, dating from the early 1970's, showing a very large ship with very thin armour covering a large area for one of my designs. Springsharp 3.0b2 Beta handles it very nicely. The greatest challenge was to reduce the recoil below 1.0. I had to reduce the intended freeboard by 2ft. There are the usual five twin turrets mounting 10-15in/42 guns. The secondary armament was left to the imagination, so I adopted 16-4in QF guns in shields with armoured hoists. The deck armour is 3in and the torpedo bulkhead is 2in. The side armour is extremely thin. Most is only 4in thick. There is a slim patch of 6in armour, 8ft high, amidships, covering the machinery spaces. The turrets have 8in faces, but the rest is a thin 4in, including the barbettes. I don't understand why Springsharp treats this as well as it does. The design uses normal direct-drive machinery and does not rely on light-weight machinery. This is the Springsharp report:

GB/CB/1912 Super Lion alternative design, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid down 1912

Displacement:
 31,202 t light; 32,963 t standard; 37,900 t normal; 41,850 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
 (815.00 ft / 812.00 ft) x 102.00 ft x (28.00 / 30.34 ft)
 (248.41 m / 247.50 m) x 31.09 m  x (8.53 / 9.25 m)

Armament:
      10 - 15.00" / 381 mm 42.0 cal guns - 1,920.00lbs / 870.90kg shells, 90 per gun
   Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1912 Model
   4 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
  2 raised mounts - superfiring
   1 x Twin mount on centreline, aft deck forward
      16 - 4.00" / 102 mm 45.0 cal guns - 32.27lbs / 14.64kg shells, 150 per gun
   Quick firing guns in deck and hoist mounts, 1912 Model
   16 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
  4 raised mounts
      Weight of broadside 19,716 lbs / 8,943 kg

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 6.00" / 152 mm 275.00 ft / 83.82 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
 Ends: 4.00" / 102 mm 410.00 ft / 124.97 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
   127.00 ft / 38.71 m Unarmoured ends
 Upper: 4.00" / 102 mm 560.00 ft / 170.69 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
   Main Belt covers 52 % of normal length
   Main belt does not fully cover magazines and engineering spaces

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  2.00" / 51 mm 465.00 ft / 141.73 m 28.00 ft / 8.53 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 8.00" / 203 mm 4.00" / 102 mm  4.00" / 102 mm
 2nd: 3.00" / 76 mm 2.00" / 51 mm  3.00" / 76 mm

   - Armoured deck - multiple decks: 3.00" / 76 mm For and Aft decks

   - Conning towers: Forward 8.00" / 203 mm,  Aft 0.00" / 0 mm

Machinery:
 Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, 
 Direct drive, 4 shafts, 140,740 shp / 104,992 Kw = 30.00 kts
 Range 7,500nm at 18.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 8,887 tons

Complement:
 1,357 - 1,765

Cost:
 £3.352 million / $13.406 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 2,677 tons, 7.1 %
 Armour: 6,669 tons, 17.6 %
    - Belts: 1,883 tons, 5.0 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 963 tons, 2.5 %
    - Armament: 1,724 tons, 4.5 %
    - Armour Deck: 1,904 tons, 5.0 %
    - Conning Tower: 194 tons, 0.5 %
 Machinery: 5,612 tons, 14.8 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 16,244 tons, 42.9 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 6,698 tons, 17.7 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   56,328 lbs / 25,550 Kg = 33.4 x 15.0 " / 381 mm shells or 7.2 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.23
 Metacentric height 7.5 ft / 2.3 m
 Roll period: 15.6 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 64 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.98
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.27

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has low quarterdeck ,
   a ram bow and a cruiser stern
 Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.572 / 0.583
 Length to Beam Ratio: 7.96 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 28.50 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 50 %
 Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
 Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): -2.00 degrees
 Stern overhang: -2.00 ft / -0.61 m
 Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
    Fore end,  Aft end
    - Forecastle: 30.00 %,  30.00 ft / 9.14 m,  28.00 ft / 8.53 m
    - Forward deck: 30.00 %,  28.00 ft / 8.53 m,  28.00 ft / 8.53 m
    - Aft deck: 8.00 %,  28.00 ft / 8.53 m,  28.00 ft / 8.53 m
    - Quarter deck: 32.00 %,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m,  20.00 ft / 6.10 m
    - Average freeboard:  25.68 ft / 7.83 m
 Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 104.1 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 231.9 %
 Waterplane Area: 59,008 Square feet or 5,482 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 119 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 206 lbs/sq ft or 1,005 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.97
  - Longitudinal: 1.32
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
 Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily