Why modern warships take longer to build

Why can modern warships take longer to build than early twentieth-century ships such as Hood?

Complex integration adds work, but low throughput also matters: Britain stretches construction to retain skilled labour when it does not order enough ships for continuous efficient production.

Modern warships require extensive cabling, system integration, and attention to quiet machinery. Those tasks account for part of the longer construction period. Yards also lack the steady throughput needed to operate at peak efficiency. A government seeking to preserve skills can either order more ships or spread a smaller programme over a longer period. Britain pays for slower construction to keep the workforce and yards in operation between orders. The tradeoff is a longer build and additional cost in exchange for avoiding a loss of domestic capability.