The quoted price for Monarch falls between £1.886 million and £1.889 million, but even this narrow range is difficult to resolve. Initial contracts and later modifications did not always enter the accounts in a way that makes the total clear. Historians and forensic accountants have struggled to reconstruct exactly what the Admiralty paid for individual battleships. Comparing a ship's cost with another figure therefore requires attention to what each total includes.
Notable Point · 49:42-50:49
Why Monarch's exact construction cost is uncertain
Competing cost figures for Monarch show how contracts, modifications, and opaque Admiralty accounting complicate comparisons between capital ships.