British shipyard capacity accelerates the response

The Royal Navy can accelerate King George V and Illustrious-class construction because Britain has far more large-hull building sites than Germany. Keeping established designs avoids the delay of another redesign, although starting the first three King George Vs earlier might displace work such as Royal Oak's modernisation. Private yards and naval dockyards form an industrial network of roughly ten usable sites, with more available after investment. Some British yards can build major ships beside one another, while the efficient German programme still turns out only about three large hulls at a time. That advantage supports simultaneous battleship and carrier orders rather than a one-for-one reply. Once free of treaty constraints, Britain could also move quickly from Illustrious to a larger batch of Implacables, closer to the carrier it actually wanted.