Hawkins's 7.5-inch armament is presented as part of the explanation for an 8-inch treaty ceiling. Selecting the alternative 9.2-inch design could instead have encouraged a 10-inch limit, changing the starting point for later cruiser development. That is a counterfactual about how existing ships influence negotiated categories. A separate institutional point is that a design treated as a temporary choice can become much harder to replace when an arms agreement fixes its boundaries. The expectation of a roughly ten-year building holiday is contrasted with restrictions that shaped naval choices for much longer.
Notable Point · 5:55:31-5:58:24
How Hawkins armament could shape later cruiser treaty limits
A seemingly temporary cruiser-design decision can acquire lasting consequences when treaty negotiators use it to set a category.