Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 1:45:44-1:48:10

A 15-inch gun limit at the Washington Naval Conference

A British proposal for a 15-inch battleship-gun ceiling would fail because American and Japanese 16-inch ships were already too far advanced.

14-inch Guns15-inch Guns16.5-inch Guns16-inch GunsAutoloadersBattleship GunsG3 Class BattlecruisersNaval Arms ControlRoyal NavyWashington Naval Treaty
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Question

What if Britain requested a 15-inch battleship-gun cap at the Washington Naval Conference?

Short answer

The proposal would not pass because the United States and Japan already had 16-inch programs and little reason to surrender them.

Notes

The United States had completed Colorado, while both the United States and Japan had 16-inch construction underway. Those commitments made a British proposal for a 15-inch ceiling unlikely to pass. Britain later pressed for a 14-inch limit at London partly because it hoped to make an autoloader work. The G3 design moved from 16.5-inch to 16-inch weapons when British planners expected a gun-calibre limit. A suggested compromise would allow each signatory two or three 16-inch ships while limiting further construction to 15-inch guns. That arrangement would be difficult to enforce when governments resisted access to their dockyards.