I wonder how extensive an explanation of the factors influencing the date of a shakedown cruise is justified considering that the cruise occurred  years ago More importantly I dont think it suffices to say the Vanguard was scrapped because she was obsolete or to say than she was the last British battleship without saying how much time passed between the scrapping of the penultimate battleship and Vanguard I dont have access to the references in the article but the external link HMS Vanguard A short history of Britains last battleship seems to indicate she survived her sisters by about  years Also that source indicates the main factor in keeping her so much longer was the prestige factor Personally Im inclined to think that even into the early s aircraft were considerably less effective at night and in poor weather compared to today Diesel subs couldnt keep up with capital ships So battleships still had a role in surface naval warfare in poor weather or at night But with the rapid improvement in aircraft sensors and fast nuclear subs by  it must have seemed that battleships would soon be relegated to shore bombardment Of course I cant go around sticking personal opinion into articles so a reliable source would be needed to find why the Royal Navy considered Vanguard obsolete Obsolete could have an entirely different meaning it could be that the various systems on Vanguard were incompatible with the rest of the Royal Navy and it would cost too much to upgrade them