How authority over naval construction changed after the First World War

The Director of Naval Construction had less authority before the First World War than during the interwar years and the approach to the Second World War. The office's power, alongside that of the Third Sea Lord, peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s. One proposed explanation for later naval-construction problems is the weakening of those offices in the 1960s. This connects procurement outcomes to the authority available to the officers responsible for them.