A navy could comply with declared limits while benefiting from the way those limits were defined. Standard displacement is one example of a rule whose wording could favour particular requirements. A ship could also meet its published specification while carrying machinery limitations or provision for equipment to be fitted later. Drachinifel suspects that the County-class hulls were deliberately designed to accept a subsequent belt of about 4.5 inches. The completed cruisers could still meet their original 10,000-ton declaration with box protection and eight 8-inch guns. Emergency bypass valves and additional boiler fuel feeds provide a separate example of reserve power concealed within otherwise defensible machinery arrangements.
Notable Point · 1:18:53-1:22:25
Treaty compliance could leave room for later armour and emergency power
Loading definitions, provision for later armour and emergency machinery arrangements could preserve capability beyond what a navy demonstrated publicly.