The counterfactual moves from ship-to-ship comparison into fleet policy. Beatty's preference for converting Courageous-class ships is explained as a way to consume less treaty tonnage and preserve room for future construction. Completed Caracciolos would create a fast Mediterranean threat that older R-class battleships could not readily catch. That pressure might make conversion of an Admiral-class hull less attractive by increasing the value of retaining fast gun-armed capital ships.
Notable Point · 1:54:29-1:55:23
How Caracciolo could alter British carrier conversions
A faster Italian battleship threat could have changed which British capital ships were selected for treaty-era carrier conversion.