I have just been reading a book by corelli barnett called engage the enemy more closely. Its a book about the RN in the second world war.
The following section caught my eye
" This combination of financial and technological weakness impelled the cabinet more than once between 1935 and 1938 to reject proposals for a "new standard navy" big enough to secure european waters and the atlantic while ate the same time deterring or fending of a japanese attack in the far east- 20 battleships, 15 aircraft carriers, 100 cruisers, 198 destroyers, 82 submarines. Instead the rearmament programme aimed at a navy of 15 capital ships, 8 aircraft carriers, 70 cruisers, 144 destroyers and 55 submarines by 1940 - in fact a fleet not greatly larger than that of 1936 except in cruises, but composed of new or modernised ships rather than worn out or obsolete"
I have the following questions.
Could this programme have of been carried out?
If not what POD would be required to allow the "new standard navy" to be built?
If it had what would the fleet look like and what ships would have been built?
How would this affect WW2?
Would the FAA have of been returned to the navy earlier than 1937?
(assume for the last 3 questions that the descion to build this fleet took place in 1935)