The treaty left navies free to pursue different destroyer designs within its limits. Its pressures encouraged large destroyers, destroyer leaders, and the later Tribal class as designers balanced calibre, gun numbers, and hull size. An American example compares the short five-inch/25 with longer weapons before the Bureau of Ordnance proposes a five-inch/38. Some navies pressed toward cruiser-calibre guns, while others chose more rapid-firing weapons suited to a destroyer's actual role. Arms control redirected competition into design choices instead of ending it.
Chapter · 6:03-8:33
Treaty pressure and the super-destroyer race
Limits on small combatants encouraged competing destroyer philosophies, from near-cruiser gun armaments to rapid-fire destroyer weapons.