Why Lion-class battleships would probably change by batch

Would all six Lion-class battleships have used the 1938 design?

Probably not; they would likely have been batch-built in pairs, with later ships using revised designs.

The Lions would probably be ordered in pairs and altered between batches. The first pair could follow the 1938 design, with later pairs drawing on the 1942 and 1944 studies. A long capital-ship programme would absorb wartime lessons and changing requirements as construction continued. The class is better understood as an evolving production series than as a frozen blueprint.