New guns consumed industrial capacity and logistical effort

Britain could draw on extensive shipbuilding and fitting-out facilities inherited largely from the Victorian period, while America was adding substantial new capacity. Those resources made new armament easier to absorb, even when it complicated logistics. Better performance in a dual-purpose role supplied a reason to accept the disruption. Japan faced the same attraction with a smaller industrial margin. A desirable improvement could consume infrastructure and industrial effort that Japan could not afford to commit.