Tiger separates industrial capacity from operational availability. The Royal Navy possessed dockyard space for more prewar modernization work, but could not let the ready battlecruiser force fall below two ships while Hood, Renown, or Repulse entered refit. Retaining Tiger could have supplied the coverage needed to move the other ships through the yards faster. The counterfactual shows how one additional hull can affect fleet readiness even when it is not the newest or most capable unit.
Notable Point · 44:28-45:09
How keeping Tiger could have unlocked battlecruiser refits
The Royal Navy had yard capacity to refit its surviving battlecruisers, but too few available hulls to release more than one ship at a time.