How Nelson and Rodney alarmed the United States

How did the United States react to Nelson and Rodney?

They were seen as unexpectedly formidable, but treaty limits prevented an immediate American reply; later American designs reflected the wider competitive problem.

Nelson and Rodney were quicker than most of the American battle line. Their armour and nine 16-inch guns also made them more formidable than American observers had expected from a treaty-limited design. The United States could not answer immediately because treaty rules blocked new construction. Their longer influence appears indirectly in the wider competitive problem, including what Americans expected Japan might build in response and the later turn toward fast battleships.