Obscure budgetary information
For reasons that are obscure I was comparing naval estimates for the USA and the UK in the run up to WW2. As far as I can see the British battleships laid down post the collapse of the various Naval Arms Limitation treaties (The King George V class) cost approximately ₤3 million per unit. The roughly comparable North Carolina class built for the USN came in at $77 million per unit. Even allowing for the then exchange rate of ₤1 = $4.80 that seems massively out of whack. The next generation of US battleships (Iowa class) came in at $100 million per unit so the earlier figure seems consistent. Are there any experts on naval construction out there who could cast light on this or is it that the US Government has a long history of being hosed by the defense industry?