Article 17 allowed a limited transfer between light-cruiser and destroyer tonnage, and Article 18 applied a separate choice to the remaining American heavy-cruiser program. The United States expected to complete fifteen heavy cruisers by 1935, with the final three subject to staged laying-down and completion dates. It could substitute light-cruiser tonnage for those ships, but that option was politically and strategically unattractive because American Pacific planning favoured large cruisers. Britain, by contrast, had a stronger case for maximising numbers of light cruisers. The exchange shows how apparently technical transfer and scheduling rules reflected competing ideas about the fleet each navy needed.
Chapter · 1:33-3:58
Articles 17-18: cruiser transfers and US construction
Article 17 permitted limited tonnage transfers, while Article 18 scheduled America's final heavy cruisers and offered a light-cruiser substitution that clashed with US Pacific priorities.