Treaty weight and the King George V class's wet bow

Why did King George V-class designers accept such a wet forward deck?

They knew the bow would be wet, but treaty displacement limits left insufficient spare weight to raise the freeboard.

The wet forecastle was not an unforeseen discovery after construction. Designers recognized what North Atlantic and North Sea conditions would do to the low bow. Raising the forward freeboard, however, added structural weight. Under the treaty-driven compromises governing the class, that weight had already been allocated to competing requirements.