Refitting old hulls versus replacing them

Staggered refit completion times show how ships returning to service will release overloaded yard capacity for the remaining work. The British campaign policy upgrades older hulls, while the American fleet tends to build new vessels and discard old ones. Replacement is sensible, but here it leaves the Americans with fewer modernized existing ships while Britain converts a large inherited fleet into usable firepower. The readiness cost is immediate: much of the British fleet remains in port while the modernization advantage is being created.