Sendai-class cruisers represent a fleet caught between First World War practice and the aviation-shaped requirements of the 1930s. Against that background, detailed limits invited subtle evasion alongside blatant violations. Destroyers quickly grew toward 2,000 tons once restrictions ended, while County-class cruisers sat more naturally in the water after wartime additions. Both examples show how paper displacement could diverge from real capability. Changing aviation, doctrine, and national military cultures made a single prescriptive formula particularly vulnerable to creative accounting.
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How prescriptive limits encouraged creative accounting
Rapid technological change and nationally specific fleet needs gave designers strong incentives to understate displacement or exploit category rules.