Vickers-Armstrongs and Britain's arms industry

In 1938 Britain could source much of its naval armament domestically because it retained several major arms manufacturers. Vickers-Armstrongs conveys the scale of that capacity. The company combined Vickers and Armstrong, firms that had separately ranked among the world's largest arms producers. Their merged share of the global market was so large that an equivalent deal under modern competition rules would likely face government intervention. This industrial concentration helps explain how Britain could build, arm, refit, and mobilize a large fleet.