Reduced gun production and shipbuilding in the interwar period also reduced demand for the machinery those industries used. Factories making machine tools wound down or closed, leaving less capacity to expand when war came. A manufacturer accustomed to supplying ten machines a year could not immediately supply thirty because a customer needed them. Britain consequently imported substantial quantities of machine tools from America. Specialist depot-ship workshops helped maintain equipment and gun mechanisms, but barrel relining required capabilities beyond routine workshop repairs.
Notable Point · 1:38:55-1:41:20
Rearmament depended on the factories that made the machine tools
Interwar contraction reduced the machinery supply behind armament production, limiting how quickly Britain could expand maintenance and manufacturing.