La Terrible and her sisters were sometimes reclassified as light cruisers because their size and firepower exceeded familiar destroyer categories. One counterfactual proposal is that large destroyers would have become a normal type without the treaty system, with separate large and small destroyer lines. In that proposed development, smaller destroyers and sloops move toward escort and frigate duties while larger destroyers absorb some light-cruiser functions. Cruisers could then concentrate on more demanding roles. The accompanying criticism of naval treaties is that restrictions on capital ships and carriers pushed other categories to grow in size to undertake their missions.
Notable Point · 33:53-35:15
How naval treaties pushed destroyers toward cruiser roles
The disputed classification of large French destroyers raises a counterfactual about separate destroyer and frigate lines and an argument about treaty-driven growth.