Specialized warship yards create a two-sided monopoly

If Cammell Laird had been bought for one pound, what mix of ships and other work should the yard have pursued?

A healthy yard needed varied civilian and naval work, while Britain also had to protect the specialized sovereign capacity on which Royal Navy construction depended.

A healthy yard needs varied work rather than dependence on a single class of naval order. Britain's most specialized yards cannot compete across the full range of warship sizes, yet the government cannot let them disappear without losing sovereign construction capacity. That creates a monopoly in both directions: the Royal Navy has nowhere else to buy, while the yard has no equivalent customer from which to earn its required profit. Possible alternatives include a state-owned naval yard or government ownership with private management contracts. Either arrangement would separate efficient yard management from the need to earn profit on each ship.