Shrinking shipyard capacity sat uneasily beside the Navy's need to test new designs and assemble uniform formations. The proposed 2-4-4 program was prudential spending: two experimental ships followed by two complete four-ship divisions. Later Orion, King George V, and Iron Duke programs adopted four-ship groups, showing how closely procurement numbers could follow tactical organization. Neptune and the two Colossus-class ships show the cost of continuing to introduce small design variations before the Navy finally standardized its four-ship programs.
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Four-ship programs matched Royal Navy tactical needs
Building two Dreadnoughts, four Bellerophons, and four St Vincents would have supported design testing and complete tactical divisions without an extravagant expansion.