The escort hulls were already being built in other spaces, so workers moved while the larger hulls stayed where they were. Some workers had skills that small escorts scarcely needed, especially experience with heavy armor plate. Treaty-era gaps in capital-ship construction had already allowed those skills to weaken. The pause interrupted their recovery just as renewed battleship and carrier work was giving the trades practical experience again.
Notable Point · 13:26-15:24
Moving workers disrupted specialist armor skills
Transfers to escort construction interrupted heavy-warship skills that the yards had only recently begun rebuilding.