Why Vanguard could be built while the Lions stalled

Alex challenges the explanation that Vanguard's design began solely because the Lions could not arrive before 1943. He compares the time needed to design, lay down and build a capital ship with the date such a substitute could realistically enter service. His alternative explanation centers on the removal of cumulative treaty limits and a planned increase to 24 capital ships, with turret and gun manufacture limiting construction speed. Reusing 15-inch weapons also retained an existing ammunition and support system. He connects an expected 1943 arrival with a 1942 planning horizon and Hood's projected refit, then argues that the Lions' wartime pauses and successive redesigns disrupted their original schedule. The completion dates and the account of what would have happened in peacetime remain part of his procurement interpretation.