Why did Britain lose its leading position in the development of naval aviation between the First and Second World Wars?

In April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was merged with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to form the Royal Air Force (RAF).1Hezlet, Arthur. “THE DEVELOPMENT OF U.S. NAVAL AVIATION AND THE BRITISH FLEET AIR ARM AND COASTAL COMMAND BETWEEN THE WARS.” Aerospace Historian 18, no. 3 (1971) p.116 The RNAS had been leading Britain’s development of both naval aviation and military aviation, however, scholars such as Eric Grove suggest that Britain’s lead in naval aviation was lost during the interwar period.2Grove, Eric J. “A War Fleet Built for Peace: British Naval Rearmament in the 1930s and t…