The hindsight claim that every battleship authorized in the 1930s should have been replaced by an aircraft carrier does not fit the evidence available in 1934. Wartime aviation made the carrier the stronger capital-ship purchase under a constrained budget, but the case became compelling only around 1942 or 1943, after combat accelerated aircraft and naval-aviation development. Battleships still retained enough wartime utility for Britain to complete HMS Vanguard rather than abandon the type immediately. Procurement decisions should be judged against contemporary evidence while accounting for what later wars revealed.
Notable Point · 45:26-47:48
Why 1934 capital-ship choices cannot use wartime hindsight
Carrier superiority was not yet clear enough in 1934 to make battleship construction an obviously irrational procurement choice.