The human scale of pre-CAD warship design

Could the rejected Admiral-class preliminary designs have been developed into modified alternatives?

Yes, but every alternative demanded a substantial hand-drafting team, making parallel design development expensive and labor-intensive.

Paper designs could be modified freely in principle, but every branch consumed weeks or months of skilled labor. A constructor team might require dozens of draftsmen plus weight and systems specialists, so pursuing several alternatives quickly multiplied the organization. The Hunt-class example shows that veteran draftsmen were more than drawing labor: their practical objections could reveal risks missed by junior constructors.