Madden tried to stabilize the postwar Navy through consensus, but his negotiating posture at the First London Naval Treaty appears too accommodating in this account. Accepting fifty cruisers instead of the seventy the Navy said it required reflected political reality because only forty-eight cruisers were new enough for combat. The concession called for stronger compensating advantages. British leverage at the Washington and Second London treaties makes the First London outcome look especially weak. Madden's long experience as Jellicoe's chief of staff and as a subordinate executing other leaders' visions may have left him less prepared to act as the forceful intermediary required of a First Sea Lord.
Chapter · 1:51:37-1:56:06
Charles Madden and the First London Naval Treaty
Madden's acceptance of a fifty-cruiser limit illustrates the danger of selling political decisions to the service without extracting enough in return.