The unavoidable compromises in modernizing HMS Hood

Could the Royal Navy ever have fully solved Hood's overweight condition through modernization?

Probably not; some element of the design would always have required compromise.

Hood's excess-weight problem could probably never have been fully eliminated. A modernization could replace machinery and redistribute loads, but it could not escape the limits of the existing hull. Additional protection, weapons, and sensors would compete with any weight saved elsewhere. The rebuilt ship would therefore still embody a compromise among capability, stability, and displacement.