Royal Navy orders provide a direct test of the battleship-centric label. Carrier conversions were the most common capital ships to enter service under treaty constraints, and the fleet then procured Ark Royal, the Illustrious class, and Unicorn. When the King George V battleships were ordered, six aircraft carriers and Unicorn were also in the programme, while destroyers and cruisers absorbed attention in categories the treaties still allowed. In this reading, battleships remained important because First World War experience had not shown them to be obsolete, and they still mattered during the Second World War. That record separates hindsight about mature Pacific carrier warfare from the mixed procurement choices available in the 1920s and 1930s.
Notable Point · 5:52-8:19
Treaty-era procurement complicates the battleship-centric label
Carrier conversions, Ark Royal, the Illustrious class, Unicorn, and parallel carrier-battleship orders show a fleet investing within treaty and technology constraints rather than simply rejecting air power.