Is there a good book on how navies gamed or ignored the interwar naval treaties?
Short answerJohn Jordan's Warships after Washington and Warships after London are strong starting points, though their view of Royal Navy compliance is debatable.
NotesJohn Jordan's two-volume sequence is presented as the clearest starting place for treaty gaming and evasion. Warships after Washington and Warships after London cover how treaty limits shaped warships and how navies complied with, stretched, or worked around the agreements. The recommendation carries an interpretive caveat. Jordan treats the Royal Navy as more faithful to both letter and spirit than the stream's discussion does.