Fleet totals and national choices

Britain and the United States receive capacity for twenty 42,000-ton ships, Japan fourteen, and France and Italy eight each under the proposed treaty. The American allowance is 840,000 tons, and the example includes completing Washington in 1922. Space within the fleet total does not mean all the corresponding ships can be built at once. The American example initially has room for six new ships, but the one-fifth construction ceiling limits simultaneous building to four at that size. Replacement eligibility later releases more tonnage as older ships leave service. Each navy can therefore plan a sequence of orders within both its total allowance and the separate construction limit.