The M15 emergency programme raises a counterfactual: Britain might have begun broader naval expansion after the Munich Crisis, or built sloops at roughly the annual rate of destroyers from 1928. Unlike major combatants, sloops faced no treaty limit on numbers. Their principal wartime jobs were convoy escort and minesweeping, with only limited value against larger surface raiders. This defensive profile could have made sloop construction less provocative than other forms of rearmament and easier to justify before open war. The argument uses a First World War emergency programme to test Britain's interwar preparedness.
Notable Point · 8:24-10:51
Why sloops offered a low-escalation rearmament option
Britain could have sustained a larger interwar sloop programme because treaties did not limit the type and its main wartime roles were defensive.