How competition can make open-ended naval research productive

The proposed blank cheque is explicitly a counterfactual, not a description of actual Admiralty spending from 1900. Research outcomes would remain uncertain, and some funded projects would still fail. The danger is greatest when one firm can repeatedly request money without producing a usable result. Funding several competing companies changes the incentive because the best design can win a further production contract. The Royal Navy moved toward a more competitive research structure from about 1905, making the earlier-start scenario plausible without making success automatic.