The alternative ceiling propagates through the Washington Treaty ratios, affecting France and Italy as well as Britain, the United States, and Japan. The estimate puts the French and Italian allowances at around 180,000 or 190,000 tons each, up from roughly 175,000 tons because they remain about half Japan's allocation. For navies building smaller capital ships, that increment could turn a two-ship batch into three. A clearly counterfactual Second World War observation follows: more French hulls would increase the chance that one escapes and joins the Free French Naval Forces. Treaty arithmetic could therefore alter force resilience and wartime political outcomes alongside individual ship designs.
Notable Point · 56:59-58:19
Higher treaty ratios reshape French and Italian fleets
France and Italy would receive modestly larger capital-ship allowances, potentially changing construction batches and the number of French ships available to escape and fight on.