Without the battleship holiday, replacement could outrank modernization

Without a battleship building holiday, what would happen to Britain's First World War ship-modernization program?

Many older ships would probably be replaced instead of modernized because continuous new construction changes the economic case for major refits.

The historical modernization problem was partly a product of the treaty building pause. If new battleships continued to enter service, the oldest First World War hulls would compete directly with purpose-built replacements for money and dockyard time. More ships would therefore be retired and replaced instead of receiving elaborate refits. That policy premise leads into the later calculation that British yards could replace a large share of the old battle fleet within eight years.