Japan can use its three additional treaty battleships as an intermediate class before Yamato. Building 16-inch ships would test armor production, engines, hull form, and enlarged yard infrastructure. Building and operating the intermediate class would expose problems before Japan enlarged the design for Yamato. Names drawn from the Russo-Japanese War might give the class political force. Soviet parity would then supply a domestic argument for leaving the treaty system and expanding again.
Chapter · 2:12:16-2:15:00
Three treaty battleships become stepping stones to Yamato
Japan uses its enlarged allowance to build three 16-inch battleships that test the armor, engines, and yards later needed for Yamato.