HMS Hood already exceeded 40,000 tons, and leading postwar designs showed that a balanced modern capital ship needed roughly that displacement to combine speed, armor, and firepower. The 35,000-ton ceiling therefore forced designers to sacrifice capability even before future growth was considered. The 16-inch gun ceiling also answered British exploration of still larger weapons and the fear that other powers would have to match them. Those limits sat inside a multinational technological race involving British, American, Italian, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and South American programs rather than a simple Anglo-German contest.
Chapter · 31:42-35:49
Why 35,000 tons forced capital-ship compromises
The capital-ship ceiling sat below the displacement needed to combine contemporary speed, armor, and firepower without severe tradeoffs.