Four completed Number 13s would force Britain and the United States to answer with new designs of their own. Those ships would alter the baseline against which later treaty ships were judged. A settlement delayed until about 1930 could therefore freeze a faster and more heavily armed generation into the treaty system. In this scenario, 28 knots might be merely entry-level and 30 knots an ordinary expectation for capital ships.
Chapter · 7:14-10:03
A delayed treaty system changes battleship baselines
If treaty limits arrived after Number 13 and its rivals, high speed and heavier guns could become the new capital-ship norm.