Carrier gun rules favored Britain's six-inch preference

Article 10 allowed Lexington-style eight-inch batteries but limited their number, while a British carrier could theoretically mount many more six-inch guns. The distinction reflected national preferences: the United States favored eight-inch weapons while Britain had extensive experience with six-inch batteries. Articles 11 and 12 then capped non-capital surface warships at 10,000 tons and eight-inch guns. Because Washington imposed no overall destroyer tonnage ceiling, the treaty controlled the size of individual ships more tightly than the number of smaller combatants a navy could build.