Australia needed a flagship able to meet enemy battlecruisers in the Pacific. Japan was moving toward Kongo, while Germany could continue sending prestige forces to East Asia despite their poor prospects in a European war. The quoted construction costs vary by source and by which expenses are included. Australia is put at about two million pounds, with Lion or Princess Royal roughly 90,000 pounds more in the later comparison. That premium bought greater fighting power, and the available yards presented no basic capacity obstacle. On those figures, the regional threat and the marginal cost favored the Lion type.
Notable Point · 2:54-10:46
Pacific threat logic and the cost objection
Australian and New Zealand planning had to account for Japanese battlecruisers, German Far East prestige deployments, and the small price gap to Lion-type ships.