Naval-treaty manoeuvres are diplomatic ruses

Do deceptive naval-treaty manoeuvres count as ruse de guerre?

No; they are better understood as diplomatic ruses rather than ruses of war.

A viewer asks whether the Anglo-German Naval Agreement counts as a ruse de guerre. It does not. Later manoeuvring around the Washington Naval Treaty sharpens the distinction. Negotiators can still conceal aims or exploit wording, but that is a ruse of diplomacy rather than a wartime stratagem. The classification separates bargaining over naval limits from deception used during armed conflict.