Carriers received more prescriptive treatment than cruisers, destroyers, and sloops because the treaty powers recognized their military value even before calling them capital ships. The Washington negotiations were aimed principally at stopping a new dreadnought race, yet carriers still received detailed national and unit limits. A carrier functioned as a mobile aerodrome with fuel, weapons, maintenance, and resting space for pilots wherever land bases were unavailable. Carriers were therefore capital assets from the beginning because they made air power deployable despite geography and uncertain access ashore.
Notable Point · 38:07-41:19
Treaty limits reveal carriers as strategic assets
The precision of treaty limits shows that navies already valued carriers as scarce strategic assets capable of moving an air base across the globe.