The alternative keeps the ban on wholly new bases but permits existing facilities to modernize without expanding their area, provided improvements are disclosed to the other signatories. Defenses would be limited to roughly 8-inch weapons, enough to deter cruiser attack without creating a hidden battleship-scale fortress. The reasoning is behavioral as well as technical: a state allowed to build a declared, limited defense may focus on that program instead of pursuing a much larger one in secret. The rule would also allow repair and maintenance capacity to keep pace with changing fleets, which the original freeze inhibited.
Chapter · 27:04-29:55
A disclosed modernization rule for Pacific bases
The proposed revision allows disclosed modernization within existing base footprints and limits defenses to weapons capable of stopping cruisers rather than battleships.