Short service lives and battleship deterrence

Capital ships were expected to move from active service into reserve and then disposal far sooner than modern warships. Dreadnought itself was approaching ordinary reserve status after only about a decade, while a modern aircraft carrier is expected to serve for forty or fifty years. Their value lay partly in the strength and resolve they projected, so an uneventful career could mean deterrence had worked rather than that the investment had been wasted. The R-class building program therefore mattered as political signaling: its mass of 15-inch-gun hulls advertised a level of naval power that competitors could see before any battle began.