Steel production as a strategic industry

What if Britain and North America had supported steel production as consistently as long-range naval timber procurement?

They likely would have gained a mixture of reserve shipbuilding capacity, infrastructure, and civilian construction because steel was treated as a critical industry.

Sustained state support for steel production might have produced a mixture of surplus ship material, infrastructure, and civilian construction. Britain and the United States both treated steel as a critical industry during periods when national power depended heavily on it. Supporting manufacturers was tied to strategy as well as industrial policy. Fleet-building capacity depended on whether a country preserved heavy industry between urgent procurement cycles.