The proposed complement was about 1,350 sailors before any flag staff embarked. A flagship assignment could push the total toward 1,600, making manpower another substantial operating cost. At roughly 202 metres overall, Neptune would have been longer than a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship and ten to twelve metres longer than a County-class cruiser. The comparisons show how close this light-cruiser design came to capital-ship dimensions.
Notable Point · 23:32-24:56
A cruiser with capital-ship dimensions and crew
Neptune's projected complement and 202-metre length placed the light-cruiser design close to capital-ship scale even before a flag staff came aboard.