Could an interwar commitment to electric drive improve survivability?

An alternative interwar design path would prioritize electric drive in response to the torpedo threat. Short propeller shafts and multiple power routes could allow boilers and turbines to sit higher in the hull or farther inside protective spaces. The scenario assumes more generous treaty tonnage allowances and sustained adoption by the British, American, and Japanese navies from the 1920s onward. Possible batteries modelled on submarine practice raise further options for emergency electricity and brief increases in power during acceleration. Period naval architecture and electrical technology could not guarantee all of these arrangements or benefits. Whether sustained investment would have changed damage control and the design of carriers, battleships, and cruisers remains an open counterfactual question.