Design competition would migrate rather than disappear. Gun performance can improve through length, calibre, and heavier projectiles, but a gun and displacement ceiling constrains each route and the ammunition that can be carried. Armour can improve, yet its area and weight remain bounded by the same envelope. Propulsion and power density therefore become the most accessible ways to gain an advantage, pushing navies toward faster ships inside the nominally equal limit. The treaty would redirect technological rivalry into the variables it failed to specify.
Notable Point · 56:20-58:04
Competition moves into speed and power density
Once displacement and gun calibre are capped, propulsion becomes the clearest remaining route to a superior battleship.