The available yards shaped fleet composition as well as the deployment of individual ships. If only a small number of large ships can use an overseas network, the navy may need vessels sized to exploit the many facilities it already has. The Hawkins class and treaty cruiser definitions raise the possibility that a more capable intermediate cruiser could have made better use of that infrastructure. An 18,000-ton design with 9.2-inch guns might also have shifted the treaty boundary between cruisers and capital ships.
Notable Point · 40:00-42:21
Dock capacity shapes cruiser force structure
Existing dock capacity can make intermediate-sized ships more useful than either oversized capital ships or inefficiently small substitutes.