Washington Naval Treaty - Effects

Effects

The Washington Treaty marked the end of a long period of growth in battleship construction. Many ships currently under construction were scrapped or converted into aircraft carriers. The Treaty limits were respected, and then extended in the 1930 London Naval Treaty. It was not until the mid-1930s that navies began to build battleships once again, and the power and size of new battleships began to take off once again. The 1936 London Naval Treaty sought to extend the Washington Treaty limits until 1942, but in the absence of Japan or Italy was largely ineffective.

The effects on cruiser building were less fortunate. While the Treaty specified 10,000 tons and 8-inch guns as the maximum size of a cruiser, in effect this was also treated as the minimum size cruiser that any navy was willing to build. The Treaty sparked a building competition of 8-inch, 10,000 ton "treaty cruisers" which gave rise to further cause for concern. Subsequent Naval Treaties sought to address this, by limiting cruiser, destroyer and submarine tonnage.