Why HMS Liverpool's builder seems surprising

Although Liverpool was laid down before Bristol, the Royal Navy named the batch after the first-ordered ship rather than the first keel laid. The Navy distributed Town-class construction widely across a dense network of capable yards. HMS Liverpool's allocation to Vickers at Barrow appears unusual because Cammell Laird lay directly across the Mersey and later built other ships in the wider class. The Birkenhead yard built HMAS Melbourne and the Greek cruisers later completed as Birkenhead and Chester, so it demonstrably had the relevant experience. A locally visible namesake might have encouraged public interest and funding, while another order could have gone to Barrow without sacrificing industrial capacity.