The common-hull exercise stops at battleships and carriers because the same three yards can handle closely related Scharnhorst-sized ships. Cruiser construction uses different dimensions and yard constraints, so the production logic does not scale down cleanly. A regime focused on output might still cancel the Hipper class and redirect money or capacity toward more standardized capital ships. That possibility remains tentative because the cruiser alternative is outside the worked building schedule.
Notable Point · 19:41-20:17
Why the common hull stops at capital ships
Scaling the Scharnhorst scheme down to cruisers would lose much of its yard and machinery commonality, though Germany might still cancel the Hipper class to fund more standardized capital ships.