Light-cruiser limits beside a 15,000-ton Hawkins

If Britain built a 15,000-ton Hawkins with 9.2-inch guns, would treaty light cruisers receive a 12,000-ton limit?

Probably not; a limit around 10,000 tons is more likely despite earlier attempts to fit the light-cruiser role into about 6,000 tons.

The enlarged Hawkins would change the upper end of cruiser bargaining without automatically lifting every cruiser category to the same scale. The light-cruiser ceiling would probably settle near 10,000 tons. Earlier 6,000-ton ambitions had already shown how difficult it was to compress the required capability.