The 1936 agreement appears as a last attempt to preserve peace amid open war in Spain, Italian conquest, and German repudiation of the Versailles settlement. British political leaders could see lower unit costs and more hulls as benefits of reducing new cruisers from roughly 10,000 to 8,000 tons. The armed services, however, were already forecasting a major war in the early or middle 1940s. A fleet designed under the restriction might therefore enter combat just as the seven-year construction limit expired. The agreement sought peace while procurement planners prepared for a conflict they already considered likely.
Notable Point · 26:52-29:24
Cruiser limits met expectations of a coming war
The services expected a major war in the early or mid-1940s even as governments accepted a 2,000-ton reduction in new cruiser size.