A fixed limit helps the Navy Laws but forces German design compromises

A common ceiling gives the German Navy Laws a more stable technical and financial basis. Tirpitz could calculate the risk fleet against a fixed British ship type instead of a moving sequence of foreign designs. The ships would remain expensive, and every choice inside 25,000 tons would expose a compromise. Preserving armour might require lower speed or freeboard, while retaining seagoing performance might mean smaller 11- or 12-inch guns rather than the emerging 13.5- or 14-inch weapons. Wilhelm II's prestige politics make it uncertain that he would accept a visibly slower, wetter, or more lightly armed German battleship merely because the treaty required it.