Soviet ships laid down around 1934-35 could encourage Hitler and the German Navy to pursue their own carrier earlier and more deliberately. The existing 1930 London Naval Treaty would still frame the immediate setting, but Soviet construction would give Japan another reason to resist a successor. Carrier tonnage would then become a more prominent part of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as Britain tried to draw Germany into a structure it could influence, an approach associated here with Ernle Chatfield. An interwar carrier was demanding but less dependent on armour plate and heavy guns than a battleship. Its machinery and aviation systems posed serious integration work without the armour-production burden of a capital ship or the pressure-hull problem of a submarine.
Chapter · 58:14-1:00:51
Carrier building enters the Anglo-German Naval Agreement
Early Soviet carrier construction would strengthen Germany's interest and make carrier tonnage a more important part of the 1935 naval settlement.