The comparison uses later escalation as a stress test without claiming that the designers already knew which ships would appear. A fleet centered on lightly protected ten-, eleven-, or twelve-inch battleships could not answer Bismarck or Tirpitz, and Yamato would make the mismatch still more extreme. Britain would then face a panic program to restore heavy capital-ship capability after having spent years and money on ships unable to meet the threat. The example reinforces the central condition behind the small designs: they work only if existing heavy ships disappear and every major power continues to accept comparable limits. It turns abstract treaty tonnage into a concrete procurement-risk scenario.
Notable Point · 47:28-48:28
Renewed escalation dooms the small treaty battleships
Later ships such as Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Yamato provide a counterfactual stress test showing how rapidly Britain's small treaty battleships would become untenable if other powers resumed heavy construction.