Raising the cruiser ceiling is imagined to raise the small-carrier exemption to 16,000 tons as well. That assumption would permit repeated construction of useful carriers outside the treaty's carrier limits. Hermes is the starting point: the suggested 12,000-13,000-ton successor carries more aircraft and reaches about 32 knots to accompany cruisers. Later light fleet carriers provide comparisons for the amount of aviation capability that could fit below the threshold. The figures cited are 13,200 tons standard for Colossus and 15,750 for Majestic. Their use here illustrates the hypothetical tonnage allowance; it does not place those later ships in the actual interwar fleet.
Notable Point · 5:42:15-5:44:34
Light carriers beneath a hypothetical 16,000-ton treaty threshold
A higher exemption could encourage fast Hermes derivatives and permit ships approaching later light-fleet-carrier size.