Q&A ยท 2:00:40-2:02:00

Designing capital ships around treaty loopholes

Maximizing treaty loopholes produces an F3-derived capital ship and an under-declared carrier designed to receive omitted equipment later.

Question

What capital ship and aircraft carrier result from exploiting naval treaty rules as aggressively as possible?

Short answer

An F3-derived nine-gun capital ship and a roughly 28,000-ton carrier with omitted armor and weapons, supplemented by carriers below 10,000 tons.

Notes

The capital-ship proposal uses an F3-style concept with nine guns and an official speed around 28 to 29 knots. The carrier would declare roughly 28,000 tons while omitting armor and part of its gun outfit at measurement. Torpedo defence would still be built into the design. Sub-10,000-ton carriers would provide another way of exploiting the categories. These are deliberately evasive hypothetical designs, rather than accounts of an actual building program.