British negotiators historically preferred an international ban on submarines to regulation of their size and weapons. That proposal failed repeatedly because the other naval powers regarded submarines as essential capabilities. A successful X-1 would therefore change more than a procurement program: it would give the Royal Navy a positive reason to preserve a type it had tried to abolish. The treaty category becomes plausible only after operational value outweighs Britain's disarmament preference.
Notable Point · 14:30-15:06
Britain first has to abandon submarine abolition
The counterfactual must overcome Britain's repeated effort to ban submarines outright while the other naval powers insist on retaining them.