Treaty making begins with pre-negotiation and informal arrangements before reaching the final conference. Naval staffs design ships and order long-lead material against the limits they expect those talks to produce. The King George V class therefore embodied an anticipated treaty settlement before every participant had formally accepted it. By the time Japan rejected the assumption, the ships had already been designed and equipment ordered. This explains why a late diplomatic reversal cannot instantly produce a different battleship.
Notable Point · 1:10:05-1:11:31
Treaty warships take shape before ratification
Pre-negotiation and informal bargaining begin long before a treaty conference ends, so ship designs can be committed before the final diplomatic answer arrives.