Interwar naval money was a policy choice

Could Britain really have afforded extra Nelson-class work or gun changes during the interwar years?

Yes, at least in limited forms; the constraints were political priorities, treaty choices, refit timing, and personnel administration rather than outright national bankruptcy.

A simple post-World War I bankruptcy explanation does not account for British naval choices. Faster debt repayment was a political decision, while gun-barrel changes could have been folded into refit programs. Rearmament concerns also began before Germany became the main naval threat, with Japan and the Far East already shaping planning. The Invergordon pay crisis arose from awkward personnel systems and poor handling rather than a simple absence of naval money.