Idle battleship yards made the class buildable

The 1909 'We want eight' episode shows that even an economy-minded government could be pushed into funding more warships than the Admiralty initially requested. The industrial obstacle was unusually weak because several British yards capable of battleship construction lacked enough orders and faced bankruptcy. A four-ship cruiser batch could support distressed private capacity without competing for already saturated foreign yards. Treasury restraint is the decisive reason this plausible class remained unbuilt, since the necessary slips and weapons were available.