How much earlier could the new capital ships have arrived?

The construction comparison gives Ark Royal a build time of three years and three months and Illustrious three years and one month, including some delay from the pause. Implacable took five years and five months, while Indefatigable took four years and six months. This counterfactual brings all four Illustrious-class carriers into service in 1940 and the Implacables in 1942. It suggests that all five King George V-class battleships could have been available by early 1942. Individual estimates place King George V around June 1940, Prince of Wales around October 1940 and Duke of York as early as February 1941. These are conditional estimates, with uncertainty about how quickly individual ships could have completed. The strategic argument is that earlier availability would have provided more ships before the major naval crises of 1941. Even a war centred on the army's campaign in Europe would still require a navy to protect imperial commitments elsewhere, including capital ships for deterrence. It therefore challenges a procurement policy based primarily on expectations drawn from the First World War.