Many pre-treaty battleships fell below 35,000 tons, but very few carried 16-inch guns. Ships with 15-inch batteries were generally heavier than those armed with 13.5-inch or 12-inch guns. The examples also show that battleships within the same broad category could occupy different capability tiers at different weights. Larger guns and modern design requirements pushed displacement upward, especially when designers increased the number of weapons. A treaty ceiling drawn from older fleets could restrict that growth, but it could not erase the engineering relationship between armament and ship size.
Notable Point · 1:06:02-1:08:12
Gun calibre sets a floor beneath treaty tonnage
Earlier battleships below 35,000 tons rarely carried 16-inch guns, so their displacement did not prove that a modern capital ship could combine the same weight with greater firepower.