How interwar sloop production could have created wartime slack

Continuous interwar sloop construction could have preserved shipyards and left the Royal Navy with more escorts when war began. The treaty argument distinguishes limits on destroyers from the continued freedom to build small, slower sloops without torpedo armament. Maintaining orders across Britain and the dominions would have supported shipyard infrastructure while producing ships for anti-submarine and convoy work. In this interpretation, inadequate investment helped create the shortage that prompted Churchill's emergency escort program. Pausing carrier, capital ship, and cruiser construction to accelerate escorts already ordered disrupted several programs at once.