Carrier cancellation and industrial continuity

Why did the Royal Navy not lay down another large ship before the Invincible class?

Wartime hulls and conversions met immediate needs, but the later cancellation of CVA-01 also damaged the industrial continuity that would have reduced the cost of future large carriers.

Rebuilding wartime hulls and completing ships already on the slipway reduced immediate pressure to order new carriers. Those hulls had already received political approval and could be converted or finished as postwar requirements became clearer. CVA-01 shows the longer-term cost: allowing specialised yards, facilities, jigs, and skilled workforces to wither makes a later carrier programme much more expensive. Recreating that capacity for the Queen Elizabeth class became part of the price of the ships. Procurement choices therefore shape industrial continuity as well as the number of hulls immediately ordered.