Surrey and Northumberland were intended, and the fifth ship was probably York. Their cancellation followed the political and financial climate created by the Washington Treaty and the 1929 election. Ramsay MacDonald's minority Labour government could present the cancellations as an international gesture while also saving money. The proposed follow-on design was expected to trade some speed for more armour while retaining the County layout and main battery. The performance claim remains uncertain because higher-pressure boilers or conservative estimates might have allowed the ships to retain more speed than the official 29.5-knot figure suggests.
Chapter · 42:31-47:14
Why Surrey and Northumberland were cancelled
The cancellation of the later Norfolk-class ships combined diplomatic gesture with post-1929 economy measures, despite plans for a better-protected derivative.