How selective cheating kept the Washington Treaty alive

The counterfactual starts from the view that every signatory exploited some favourable treaty language, while no navy used every available device. Selective restraint helped preserve the Washington system despite departures from the intended spirit of its rules. The premise removes that restraint and extends evasion across the available treaty openings. In this scenario, a later London agreement would either fail or contain so many exceptions that it could impose little effective restraint.