Why carriers adapt more easily when treaties collapse

Why were aircraft carriers easier than battleships to modify around changing treaty limits?

Carriers had fewer specialized long-lead items, while battleship guns, turrets, armour, hoists, and machinery locked the design much earlier.

A carrier consists largely of a hull, machinery, hangar, and flight deck, while a battleship must integrate armour plate, heavy guns, turrets, ammunition hoists, magazines, and engines. Every major battleship component reaches deep into the hull and demands specialized industrial preparation. Its guns and armour are also long-lead items that must be fixed early. A treaty change can therefore be exploited much later in a carrier design cycle than in a battleship programme.