Why Victorious's reconstruction is criticized as a sunk-cost problem

What happened to Victorious, and why was her postwar reconstruction such a problem?

The reconstruction kept absorbing money into a heavily used wartime hull, and a later fire reduced the return on that investment; the answer favors stopping the rebuild and funding new ships.

Victorious's postwar reconstruction is presented as a case in which expenditure continued because work had already begun. The answer argues that closer attention to the hull's wartime damage and service should have prompted an earlier decision to stop. A later fire further curtailed the benefit obtained from the investment. Completing the Maltas, all the Darings, and some postwar cruisers is offered as the alternative force-building approach.