Why dreadnought programs resisted neat squadron arithmetic

Did the Royal Navy organize its dreadnought building programs primarily to complete uniform squadrons?

Not consistently. Squadron organization was desirable, but changing gun generations, budgets, political additions, and industrial decisions produced uneven batches such as the four-plus-one-plus-one Queen Elizabeth sequence.

Squadron logistics did not consistently govern the leap from one capital-ship type to the next. The Royal Navy often changed technology before a uniform squadron could be completed, beginning with the early dreadnoughts and the move to 13.5-inch guns. The Queen Elizabeth program likewise moved from four ships to an added fifth and then to Agincourt as a sixth instead of following a clean eight-ship plan. Agincourt was added only after the Revenge-class authorizations had further changed the program. Naval requirements, politics, and industrial capacity shaped the resulting force structure, leaving neat squadron arithmetic as an aspiration rather than the controlling rule.