A slow building rate keeps naval industry alive

The proposed program remains far below Britain's prewar output, which had sustained several capital ships at once. Even roughly one ship per year, however, would keep designers, skilled workers, turret plants, armor production, and heavy shipyards active. One possible rule allows Britain and the United States five ships in each five-year period, Japan three, and France and Italy about two apiece. Twenty-year service lives make that cadence a form of controlled replacement rather than a return to the pre-1914 race. Firms such as Vickers and Armstrong would retain the facilities and knowledge needed to accelerate production when strategic conditions worsened.