The Act is judged against financial, deterrent, shipbuilding, and operational criteria. A roughly 7 percent overrun is contrasted with much larger overruns in the F-35, Eurofighter, and aircraft-carrier programs. Sustained naval and mercantile construction expanded shipyard capacity. A larger forward-deployed Royal Navy could press British and local governments to improve dockyard and support facilities across the empire, including Cockatoo Island in Sydney. Those facilities later served in both world wars, leaving an institutional and logistical legacy beyond the ships funded in 1889.
Chapter · 6:14-9:12
The Act's budget and imperial dockyard legacy
The program ran only modestly over budget while enlarging shipbuilding capacity and strengthening overseas naval infrastructure needed in both world wars.