The much more heavily armed cruiser force the Royal Navy might have preferred included twelve 9.2-inch guns and stronger secondary armament. Such ships would have formed a more powerful cornerstone for trade protection and surface action. Treaty rules limited what Britain could build and forced compromises among numbers, weapons, displacement, and roles. The Counties could perform their assigned work, but their specifications reflected negotiated constraints rather than the service's unconstrained ideal.
Notable Point · 27:32-29:16
Treaty limits and the heavy-cruiser force Britain wanted
Treaty limits constrained the County programme and prevented Britain from building the cruiser force it believed it needed.