Germany tried to fight the naval race in numbers, while Britain faced the harder qualitative challenge of keeping its designs ahead. Britain could order eight battleships in a year and have roughly sixteen under construction while still building cruisers, battlecruisers, and civilian ships. Large order volumes and competition among private and government yards pushed individual ship prices down. Once orders and competition disappear, however, a sole supplier selling to a sole government customer can pass its profit and financing costs back to the taxpayer. Fleet planning and industrial structure therefore shaped one another, and warship prices were never fixed in isolation.
Notable Point · 1:25:54-1:28:45
Britain's qualitative challenge mattered more than Germany's numbers
Britain could outbuild Germany quantitatively, while competitive yards and production volume reduced unit costs and shifted the real contest toward ship quality.