The large-cruiser programme was effectively killed by its 1946 delay. Britain probably needed to begin construction around 1943 if completed ships were to arrive while wartime urgency still protected the programme. Failure to find money immediately after the war made revival progressively less plausible. Governments had stronger incentives to fund visible priorities before the next general election than a costly warship with a long construction cycle.
Chapter · 25:17-26:26
Why delaying Neptune past 1946 killed it
The 1946 pause was effectively fatal because a useful Neptune programme required wartime commitment, while post-war electoral incentives worked against expensive long-term construction.