An armored two-decker fleet could be too costly for many rivals

The proposed two-decker would raise the industrial price of competing for naval superiority. Fear of losing command of the sea could make the program politically fundable in Britain. France might turn toward Jeune École concepts sooner, but the Whitehead torpedo remained five or six years away, depending on the scenario's date, while the American Civil War occupied the United States. The familiar comparison between American monitors and British ironclad frigates would become a comparison with a full British ironclad fleet. The suggested British program contains at least five or six two-deckers, possibly more, with an equal or greater number of ironclad frigates. Such a force would be much harder for rivals to finance and reproduce than a single armored frigate.