The scenario depends on treaty tonnage and on how British governments treated that allowance. The Royal Navy historically built toward its permitted quota and could accuse ministers of letting Britain fall below an internationally recognized minimum. The memory of the prewar "We want eight" campaign and a political generation still shaped by Edwardian and Victorian defence assumptions made that charge potent even after World War I. One scout carrier per year therefore fits the proposed treaty logic better than an open-ended request for naval expansion.
Notable Point · 1:00:56-1:03:24
Treaty limits became a political funding floor
Interwar British governments resisted extra defence spending but usually funded the Royal Navy to its treaty allowance, making authorized scout carriers politically plausible.