Article 17 barred a belligerent from using foreign warships still under construction in its yards, directly addressing Britain's seizures at the start of the First World War. The Royal Navy nevertheless requisitioned I-class destroyers being built for another customer when war returned. The Argentine cruiser La Argentina would probably also have been retained had delivery slipped by only a few months, perhaps with an older C-class cruiser offered in exchange. The example shows how a clear treaty prohibition could collapse when immediate wartime force needs outweighed the peacetime agreement.
Notable Point · 1:04:18-1:05:39
Britain repeated the wartime seizure Article 17 was meant to stop
A clause aimed at Britain's 1914 requisitions did not prevent the Royal Navy from taking foreign warship orders again when the Second World War began.