Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 34:04-34:18

Choosing Minotaur over Neptune after the Tiger-class costs

With hindsight about Tiger-class costs, the more familiar Minotaur design is preferred to the Neptune alternative.

Minotaur Class CruisersNaval ProcurementNeptune Class CruisersTiger Class Cruisers
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Question

With hindsight about Tiger-class costs, should Britain have built Minotaur- or Neptune-class cruisers instead?

Short answer

Minotaur is preferred because Britain already knew how to build the design.

Notes

The counterfactual asks what Britain should build once the eventual cost of the Tiger-class cruisers is known. Minotaur is chosen rather than Neptune because the builders already understood how to produce the design. That familiarity would reduce some of the institutional and practical risk in continuing cruiser construction. Production knowledge can outweigh the attractions of a more ambitious paper successor.