Three years barely changes naval high command

Would natural retirement and promotion by 1942 change naval doctrine or building policy?

Probably not by much, because three years is too short for a wholesale turnover and the missing wartime experience changes who rises.

Three years permits some retirements and replacement appointments, without a wholesale change in naval leadership. Henderson's death in 1939 would still remove him from the later command structure. Other officers would lack the historical wartime record that helped accelerate their promotion, particularly through destroyer leadership. Those differences could change particular appointments more readily than the broad direction of doctrine and construction. A five- or six-year delay would allow a larger turnover than the interval used here.