A common ceiling does not reduce the number of ships, so each rivalry becomes a contest in output. Britain and other large industrial powers can build more hulls while repeating a settled design. Longer production runs lower unit costs, letting the strongest shipyards exploit cost benefits of scale. Germany gains predictable sums under the Navy Laws but loses if British yards no longer spend time and money answering every foreign qualitative leap. Smaller powers consequently surrender their main answer to numerical inferiority: a ship individually superior to those of the larger navy.
Notable Point · 54:33-56:17
A qualitative cap turns every rivalry into a numbers race
With ship numbers unlimited, a common design ceiling favors industrial powers that can repeat one battleship design at scale.