The scuttling also changed the strategic shape of the postwar settlement. Had the German ships survived for distribution, France, Italy, the United States, and other victors could have acquired additional battleships and cruisers. Those transfers would have complicated Britain's effort to retire older ships and obtain a postwar peace dividend. They also could have hardened the competitive fleet arithmetic that later naval arms-control negotiations sought to restrain.
Notable Point · 32:22-33:15
How the scuttling changed the postwar naval settlement
Destroying the interned German ships avoided a divisive distribution of modern warships and made fleet reductions and naval arms control easier to pursue.