Dominion cruiser programs and the London treaty balance

How would the Second World War and naval treaties change if Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India built substantial interwar cruiser and destroyer forces?

Large dominion County-class programs could add dozens of heavy cruisers, strengthen imperial wartime forces, and force much higher cruiser-tonnage baselines at the London Naval Conference.

The panel first identifies the political reasons several dominions did not build large forces, including Canadian sensitivity to the United States, weak support for the Royal Indian Navy, and South African reluctance to spend. It then imagines four to eight County-class cruisers per dominion, potentially adding 32 hulls and prompting Britain to build comparable numbers. Such a fleet would transform both wartime availability and the starting tonnage from which London treaty limits were negotiated.