Officially the Abdiels were cruisers, which raised a treaty-tonnage question for a destroyer-like specialist. The first group was ordered in 1938 and laid down in 1939, after the Royal Navy had effectively stopped treating the interwar treaty system as a practical limit. Political control of spending remained. Admiral Reginald Henderson is credited with helping the programme pass that barrier. Classification, treaty accounting, and political approval all shaped the route by which the design entered service.
Notable Point · 12:11-13:16
Cruiser classification after the treaty system
The Abdiels were technically cruisers, but their 1938 ordering and 1939 construction came as the Royal Navy treated the interwar treaty system as effectively finished.