The Crown Colony class in the crisis year of 1936

The Crown Colony design emerged in a year when European and Asian security was deteriorating on several fronts. King George V died, creating the succession that ended in Edward VIII's abdication, while Germany remilitarized the Rhineland and civil war began in Spain. Italy consolidated its conquest of Ethiopia, and Stalin launched the Great Purge. In East Asia, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, the February 26 coup attempt exposed the instability of its command culture, and the Xi'an Incident showed how fractured China remained. The West China famine was estimated to have killed five million people. Italy's eventual victory in Ethiopia did not erase the campaign's difficulties, which helped establish a reputation for military incompetence. The class therefore emerged from treaty negotiations and procurement decisions made while governments faced multiplying threats but still hoped to limit armaments.