How Britain might have built warships without the Washington treaty

What might have happened to older ships if the Washington Naval Treaty had not been agreed but the Depression still occurred?

Britain would probably have built more ships, using naval construction to sustain employment and keep shipyards capable of later expansion.

Without Washington treaty limits, a British government facing depression would probably commission ships as a form of industrial support. Naval orders would employ workers, keep specialist yards active, and leave them ready to expand when the economy recovered. The counterfactual concerns warship construction as economic infrastructure rather than the composition of one specific alternative fleet.