British shipyard asymmetry multiplies escorts

The post-First World War settlement left Germany without the maritime infrastructure needed for parallel major-warship construction. Its yards faced sequential choices such as a carrier or battleship followed by the Scharnhorst pair, while Britain could build fleet carriers, battleships, and escorts at the same time. German leaders in the 1930s wanted a powerful navy without supplying the money or time needed to rebuild that industrial base. Britain, Canada, and the United States could produce corvettes and trawlers in smaller yards without displacing major-warship work. Once Allied escort totals approached and exceeded U-boat strength, some convoys could carry more escorts than the attacking wolfpack had submarines.