The scale of the postwar Royal Navy building program

The list conveys why postwar fleet policy cannot be understood from a few famous capital ships. The program included six carriers, eight Daring-class destroyers, twenty-four frigates, nearly two hundred minesweepers and patrol craft, and forty-five destroyer-to-frigate conversions. Competitive tendering had already become difficult because too few yards wanted defence work, while the Navy's share of shipbuilding and repair labor was rising sharply. Conversion cost less than a new frigate but still consumed scarce industrial capacity. Completion schedules, modernization, manpower, fuel, dockyard work, and changing missions therefore competed inside one constrained program.