The "Majestic"s were to be a benchmark for all successor pre-dreadnoughts. While the preceding "Royal Sovereign"-class battleships had revolutionised and stabilised British battleship design by introducing the high-freeboard battleship with four main-battery guns in twin mountings in barbettes fore and aft, it was the "Majestic"s that settled on the 12 in main battery and began the practice of mounting armoured gunhouses over the barbettes; these gunhouses, although very different from the old-style, heavy, circular gun turrets that preceded them, would themselves become known as "turrets" and became the standard on warships worldwide. The "Majestic" class, the largest class of battleships ever built, were some of the most successful battleships of their time, and they were widely copied. Indeed, the Japanese and the battleship were based directly on the "Majestic"s.