Why Britain failed to preserve a modern battleship

Why did Britain not preserve one of its modern battleships?

The government failed to value preservation soon enough, scrapping Vanguard only shortly before accepting the case for saving Belfast.

Government short-sightedness and an undervaluing of history left Britain without a preserved modern battleship. HMS Vanguard was scrapped only shortly before the government accepted the case for preserving HMS Belfast. That tight sequence shows that retaining a major warship was within Britain's reach, but the historical value was recognised too late for its last battleship. Britain consequently preserved a major cruiser while losing the ship that could have represented the final stage of its battleship tradition.