County-class armor and aviation-ship classification

An anecdote about four-inch armor samples suggests that County-class cruisers had provision for later reinforcement. The supposed coincidence that suppliers' plates fitted the ships is treated sarcastically, without supporting design documents being examined. A separate example concerns an unnamed aviation ship described as a fast forward aviation support ship. Its auxiliary classification is said to place its tonnage and budget outside the carrier category. The examples raise the distinction between a ship's practical capabilities and the categories used to authorize and fund it.