Virginia's Lexington-class hulls matter because Senator Claude Swanson was a key naval ally, and Tillman would care more about keeping those contracts alive than whether the ships finished as battlecruisers or carriers. Selected South Dakota-class slips at Newport News, Norfolk, and Mare Island likewise preserve work in politically valuable states. Keeping those yards occupied with capital ships also prevents them from competing with Charleston for cruiser contracts. Swanson's later success in saving Maryland and West Virginia, together with the Wickes-class destroyer named USS Tillman, illustrates how personal alliances and shipyard constituencies could outweigh a purely technical ranking of hulls.
Chapter · 47:05-50:52
A shipyard coalition decides which hulls survive
Tillman's imagined negotiating priorities follow Democratic allies and shipyard constituencies rather than a purely technical ranking of unfinished ships.