Article 9 uses permissive wording where a binding conversion rule might be expected. The treaty said powers "may" use two ships otherwise due for scrapping to obtain the larger carrier allowance. That language encouraged economical conversion but did not require it. Britain, the United States, and Japan could therefore have built two purpose-designed 33,000-ton carriers from scratch in the 1920s, establishing a different technical baseline for naval aviation.
Notable Point · 23:53-25:42
How treaty wording permitted large new-build carriers
Article 9 encouraged conversion of existing capital ships but did not legally require the two permitted 33,000-ton carriers to be conversions.