How did battleship cost compare with a ship of the line?

How much more expensive was a battleship than a ship of the line?

The absolute financial cost was vastly higher, but the burden as a share of national wealth may have been broadly comparable to that of a first-rate sailing warship.

The nominal price difference is astronomical because industrial battleships embodied far more machinery, armor, and specialized production. As a percentage of gross domestic product, however, a leading battleship may have represented a burden similar to that of a first-rate ship of the line in its own era. The comparison is most useful when normalized against what each state could afford rather than by raw currency alone.