British rearmament plans assumed a later war

Torpex belonged to Britain's late-1930s rearmament timetable rather than standing apart as an isolated laboratory project. Although the Ten Year Rule officially ended in 1932, meaningful Treasury funding is treated here as arriving only when the treaty system collapsed in 1937. Hunt-class escort destroyers, Flower-class corvettes, and Black Swan-class sloops were ordered or entering construction in 1939. The Navy hoped the major conflict would wait until 1942 or later, giving these ships and supporting technologies time to mature before they were needed.