The interwar proposal is explicitly counterfactual: no Dominion carrier program is claimed to have existed. If the Washington treaty system had exempted 15,000-ton carriers from construction limits, Britain might have encouraged Australia and Canada to buy Hermes-sized ships. Those carriers would have supplied local presence, aviation overwatch, and a stronger Dominion contribution to collective security. Britain could then keep expensive fleet carriers near the best-supported bases and avoid sending them to every minor regional crisis.
Notable Point · 19:00-21:28
A Hermes-style carrier counterfactual for the Dominions
A treaty system permitting unrestricted 15,000-ton carriers might have encouraged Britain to promote Hermes-style ships for Australia and Canada before the Second World War.