The counterfactual starts from a simple diplomatic choice: use the largest recent capital ship already in service as the benchmark. Scaling treaty totals to a 41,000-ton ceiling would give Britain and the United States 615,000 tons, changing how many replacement ships each could fund. Hood would cease to be a singular exception and establish the maximum every signatory could approach. Fleet numbers matter alongside individual ship size because a design fielded in sufficient numbers becomes a usable capability.
Chapter · 0:44-4:56
Making Hood the treaty benchmark
The alternative treaty begins by treating Hood's roughly 41,000-ton displacement as the capital-ship ceiling rather than adopting 35,000 tons.