British yards could build a much larger Hawkins cruiser

Could Britain build an enlarged Hawkins-type cruiser around 24,000 tons and 11-inch guns?

Yes; shipyards already capable of building battleships could accommodate a cruiser of that size without major difficulty.

The proposed dimensions move the ship toward capital-ship scale, but they do not exceed British construction infrastructure. A cruiser label does not determine whether a yard can handle the hull; physical size and weight do. British firms already building battleships possessed the slips, cranes, and heavy-work capacity required for a 24,000-ton ship. The larger hull would also offer more room for later upgrades and could influence the limits chosen for subsequent treaty cruisers. The limiting question would be whether naval policy needed such a cruiser, not whether the industrial base could construct it.