The Royal Navy already possessed Renown, Repulse, Courageous, Glorious, Furious, and a surviving force of pre-war armoured cruisers. Those ships occupied the large-cruiser and distant-presence space while remaining comparatively young and available after the First World War. A paper design could therefore be attractive without clearing the practical test for immediate construction. The unbuilt 15,500-18,000-ton cruiser appears as a lost opportunity in hindsight, while the contemporary inventory explains why it stayed on the drawing board.
Notable Point · 25:20-26:43
Why Britain deferred a larger heavy cruiser
Renown, Repulse, the Courageous group, and surviving armoured cruisers filled the large-cruiser niche, so a new British type lacked an urgent replacement case.