Britain already encouraged merchant ships that could be armed for wartime service, and the same policy could have been extended farther. Payments for speed, fittings, or other commercial features could give the government access to faster support ships without keeping every hull in naval service during peace. Some vessels could be privately earmarked for carrier conversion while retaining a defensible trade-protection rationale in public. This plausible deniability would be easier to maintain than complete secrecy across a large programme. Fast armed merchant cruisers could replace warships on South Atlantic and Indian Ocean patrols when the Mediterranean or Far East demanded greater attention.
Notable Point · 1:31:06-1:34:42
Merchant shipping as latent naval capacity
Subsidised merchant designs could provide fast oilers, armed merchant cruisers, and potentially convertible carriers when war made them necessary.