Six enlarged Ark Royal-type carriers could be ordered in successive pairs and enter service by 1938. The proposed schedule combines a pair of carriers with two battleships every two years. The estimate treats this as an affordable peacetime program for Britain. Predictable orders permit better purchasing arrangements than emergency wartime construction, when industries compete for scarce resources. Continued work would also sustain shipyards and employment during the Depression, potentially reducing the distress behind shipyard workers' marches.
Notable Point · 2:20:19-2:22:30
Regular naval orders could sustain British shipyards through the Depression
A predictable building program could preserve shipyard employment and produce six large carriers by 1938 without the expense of a wartime surge.