Why British shipbuilding scale was difficult to match

Britain could order successive generations of warships while rivals were still responding to earlier ones. During the Anglo-German naval race, an average of about four British battleship orders a year is cited, with some years reaching six. Those orders are described as falling comfortably within British industrial capacity. Yards could still lack work even while Britain was building for its own navy and accepting foreign orders. Frequent construction helped the Royal Navy introduce improvements without waiting for a rare replacement programme.