A 12,000-ton cruiser limit reshapes guns and carrier loopholes

What changes if treaty cruisers may displace 12,000 tons while retaining 8-inch guns?

Cruisers gain more guns, and the threshold creates powerful incentives to build sub-12,000-ton carriers such as enlarged Hermes derivatives.

Britain would probably build 12-gun heavy cruisers in four triple turrets, while American and Japanese designs became heavier still. Experience with triple 8-inch mountings could influence later 6-inch cruisers, making the Crown Colony family closer in size and arrangement to the Town class. Because Hermes falls below 12,000 tons, Britain might retire Argus and build repeated enlarged Hermes derivatives without consuming ordinary carrier tonnage. Japanese and American imitation could then force a separate cruiser-carrier category alongside heavy and light cruisers in later treaty negotiations.