How treaty limits changed battleship tactics

With unlimited construction, even dispersed fleets could assemble enough battleships that line-ahead organization was practical. Once major navies held roughly fifteen capital ships and subtracted refit, reserve, and secondary-theater commitments, the available force could shrink to four or five. A formation once called a four-ship division increasingly carried the status of a squadron because the total capital-ship pool had contracted so sharply. In that setting, two faster ships making an end run represented a large fraction of combat power rather than a vulnerable detachment beside a much longer line. Treaty limits therefore increased the tactical value of speed and helped drive the interwar need for fast battleships.