The video groups capital-ship designs by the historical moment that stopped them instead of treating every cancelled ship as one category. The end of the First World War, the Washington treaty settlement, treaty-era planning, and renewed prewar construction each provide a different sampling point. Paper projects preserve the direction in which designers and institutions intended to move before budgets, treaties, infrastructure, and war forced compromises. Comparing those projects exposes strategic ambition and the limits that kept it from becoming a completed ship.
Chapter · 7:08-9:40
Why unbuilt capital ships are revealing
Unbuilt designs preserve a navy's ambitions before war, treaties, industry, and budgets forced compromises.