British-built warships for the Netherlands

Should the Netherlands order capital ships or a more practical mix of cruisers, submarines, and destroyers from Britain?

British construction is plausible, but either choice still depends on scarce experienced Dutch officers.

British yards offered a safer political relationship than neutral, isolationist America, which might interrupt a foreign order as its neutrality policy changed. Britain and the Netherlands also had a long history of cooperation that made a British contract easier to sustain. German-derived Dutch designs would probably be modified around British weapons, perhaps replacing their planned 11-inch guns with six 14-inch guns in a Renown-like arrangement. Town-class cruisers would be easier to crew, but the most acute Dutch limitation was experienced senior officers rather than raw sailor numbers, so smaller hulls would not remove the command bottleneck.