Treaty limits would be negotiated around ships already built and the prestige of recent victory. A Britain that had paid for and fielded larger fast capital ships would have less reason to accept a much lower ceiling as its own standard. The proposed 45,000- to 50,000-ton figure is standard displacement, not full-load displacement. Japan would face the economic and dockyard cost of matching that benchmark, while Germany would still emerge from Versailles with an impaired maritime industry and an 11-inch-gun limit. Treaty permission would therefore interact with very unequal industrial capacity rather than producing equal fleets. This remains speculative because postwar politics and the actual size of British construction still matter.
Notable Point · 2:47:46-3:01:28
A higher baseline for naval limitation
If Britain enters the 1920s with large fast battleships as its successful standard, naval arms limitation may begin from 45,000 to 50,000 tons and 16.5-inch guns rather than the historical limits.