Literal treaty compliance differed from the wider promise of openness surrounding the naval agreements. Britain was not obliged to hand over technical drawings, but its extensive testing had shown that floodable spaces could provide protection without counting as standard displacement. Even a broad warning could have informed both treaty drafting and American ship design without revealing the engineering details. Withholding that insight made the British solution look like an exploitation of definitions agreed among powers that were supposed to be building a more cooperative naval order.
Chapter · 7:04-16:30
Why secret water armour challenged the treaties' spirit of openness
Admiral King's complaint becomes a dispute over information sharing: Britain followed the treaty rules but withheld knowledge that could have changed how other powers understood displacement and protection.