A possible British bargain for Norwegian rearmament

Norway could have used Britain's wartime compulsory purchase of its coastal ships to ask for a favourable replacement deal. Concern over Russia's civil war and the possibility of a communist victory supplied a further security argument. Britain would probably have found such an arrangement attractive because Norwegian orders could keep British yards employed during the transition from wartime production. The Royal Navy would gain that industrial benefit without having to take the ships into its own fleet. This was a proposed bargaining opportunity, rather than a documented offer that Norway rejected.