Q&A · 2:27:42-2:28:12

If naval treaties had not limited destroyer numbers

Without treaty limits, Britain's comparatively viable interwar naval budget could have sustained destroyer construction and produced a much larger force by 1939.

Destroyers Interwar Period Naval Treaties Royal Navy World War II

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Question

What if naval treaties had placed no limit on destroyer numbers?

Short answer

The Royal Navy would probably have kept building destroyers and entered the Second World War with many more of them.

Notes

Britain was unusually well placed to exploit an unlimited destroyer category during the 1920s and 1930s. Continued orders would have enlarged the fleet and kept shipyards active, so treaty rules affected industrial readiness as well as ship numbers.