The treaty placed no numerical limit on ships below 10,000 tons, yet the Dominions did not exploit that freedom on a large scale. Australia invested more heavily in naval infrastructure than the others and later built wartime corvettes, but its capacity remained limited. Many Dominion vessels were still versions of British designs rather than products of independent design systems. Formal treaty freedom therefore exceeded the industrial and financial means available to use it.
Notable Point · 2:19-3:19
Industrial capacity limits Dominion naval expansion
Legal freedom to build cruisers and destroyers mattered little without shipyards, design capacity, and governments willing to fund larger fleets.