How Hawkins shaped the treaty cruiser — Bruships 134: Imperial Japanese Navy Books at 1:01:47

How Hawkins shaped the treaty cruiser

Without Hawkins, the treaty cruiser might have settled near Omaha's 8,000 tons and 6-inch guns; historically the United States rounded Hawkins's 7.5-inch battery upward to eight inches.

Question

Would the treaty cruiser limit have fallen to about 8,000 tons and 6-inch guns if Hawkins had not been built?

Short answer

Possibly: Hawkins gave the United States the 7.5-inch, large-cruiser precedent that it rounded up to the 8-inch, 10,000-ton standard.

Notes

Hawkins supplied the real ship against which negotiators framed the cruiser ceiling. Without that example, the United States might have accepted a smaller 8,000-ton, 6-inch standard based on Omaha and accelerated adoption of triple 6-inch turrets. Historically American negotiators took Hawkins's 7.5-inch guns and displacement as the benchmark, then rounded the gun caliber and tonnage upward. Treaty categories often grow from existing ships rather than from an abstract definition of an ideal cruiser.