The cost of delaying the Queen Elizabeth carriers

If the UK had kept a third carrier in 2000, could one of the Invincibles have been refitted as an F-35B carrier?

The answer argues that delay payments could have funded another Queen Elizabeth-class carrier, but does not resolve the technical feasibility of an Invincible conversion.

The answer redirects the proposed Invincible conversion toward the cost of delaying the Queen Elizabeth class. Excluding development expenses, the construction spending is described as enough for roughly three and a half ships. In this assessment, the government paid to slow construction so it could postpone the carriers' operating costs. Those payments consumed money that could have bought another hull. The technical feasibility of converting an Invincible for F-35B operations is not resolved.