Interwar delay was not belief that war was impossible

Was the Dido-class programme undermined by a belief that another war would never happen?

The argument is that leaders hoped to avoid war but expected more preparation time, not that they considered war impossible.

Interwar governments hoped to avoid another war while still assessing other powers' preparation cycles. They saw that Germany, Italy, and the other major states lacked complete infrastructure and readiness, and expected more time to prepare. War in 1939 therefore arrived at an exceptionally bad point in several national programmes. The Dido-class delay reflects a failed timing judgement rather than a belief that war had become impossible.