Did naval treaties delay warship technology?

Did the interwar naval treaties hold naval technology back by decades?

Not generally: they restricted capital ships, but also drove inventive solutions and rapid evolution within treaty limits.

Naval treaties slowed capital-ship development without freezing naval technology. Tight tonnage limits encouraged unusual design compromises, while declared displacement could become politically convenient fiction. French cruisers show how far designs could evolve within apparently stable treaty categories. Restriction, evasion, and technical innovation operated at the same time.