Australia had built light cruisers, destroyers, and sloops before the First World War, but postwar ordering did not preserve that breadth. Four of the five yards used for an earlier twenty-ship program closed after their work ended because no consistent follow-on orders arrived. Recurring smaller batches could have kept several yards active while producing escort groups, destroyer flotillas, and occasional cruisers. A distinct Australian allocation under the London naval treaty system might also have sustained cruiser and destroyer construction without consuming the entire Commonwealth allowance. This is a counterfactual policy option that shows how procurement cadence and treaty design could reinforce industrial capacity together.
Chapter · 20:08-23:35
Steady batches and treaty space could have preserved Australian yards
Recurring small batches and a distinct Dominion treaty allocation offered a counterfactual route to keeping several Australian yards open after the First World War.