The treaty category outlined here permitted unlimited numbers of small combatants within specified limits. For ships above 600 and up to 2,000 tons, the restrictions included no gun above 6.1 inches, no more than four guns above three inches, no torpedo-launching equipment, and a maximum designed speed of 20 knots. Some naval officers wanted a sloop flotilla for every destroyer flotilla from 1930 onward. Treasury officials treated the similarly sized vessels as competing alternatives. The naval case distinguished sloops' anti-submarine duties from destroyers' fleet work and torpedo capability, so buying destroyers alone left an escort requirement unmet.
Notable Point · 17:00-19:21
Why treaty-exempt sloops still lost the budget contest
Treaty permission to build sloops did not supply the money: competing destroyer orders and a disputed view of their roles constrained escort procurement.