The delayed conference would not negotiate capital-ship ratios in isolation. Britain, the United States, and Japan were already considering or constructing carrier forces, and the Royal Navy examined drafts involving very large carrier numbers. Several years without Washington limits would let those programs develop beside completed G3s, Lexingtons, and other large combatants. Any later treaty would therefore inherit more aviation tonnage, more sunk cost, and a different balance between gun ships and aircraft carriers.
Notable Point · 1:13:39-1:14:48
Carrier programs grow before a delayed treaty
British, American, and Japanese carrier plans would mature alongside surviving German capital ships, forcing a 1925 agreement to regulate a fleet mix unlike the historical Washington settlement.