The treaty discussion broadens Soryu and Hiryu's weight problem into an interwar design lesson. Washington and London limits often forced navies to accept compromised ships or find ways around declared displacement: Nelson and Rodney paid with low speed, Japanese ships acquired dangerously light structures, and British County-class cruisers were arranged to receive equipment and armour later. An Italian ship's emergency repair is offered as evidence that declared figures could also conceal excess weight. British observers therefore read the Fourth Fleet damage as confirmation that Japan had obeyed the limits by building ships too lightly rather than by understating displacement. Sparse Japanese reports and unexplained later refits leave the exact repair bill uncertain. Treaty compliance here is an engineering and institutional problem rather than a simple table of tonnage ratios.
Notable Point · 37:32-42:53
Treaty limits, paper ships, and design workarounds
The treaty discussion contrasts compromised designs, deliberate displacement workarounds, and the archival difficulty of measuring Japan's post-storm repair bill.