A capital ship requires more than guns: armor plate, machinery, hull construction, and many supporting industries must arrive together. Peacetime expansion is easier because resources can be bought abroad and transported without convoy escorts or enemy attack. Labour otherwise assigned to protection and wartime emergencies can remain in productive industry. A larger industrial base built before hostilities therefore yields much more usable wartime capacity than an attempted crash expansion after war begins.
Notable Point · 44:02-45:00
Peacetime is the best moment to expand naval industry
Understand why expanding yards, armor, turbines, and gun production is easier before war consumes labour and transport.