The Washington Treaty’s carrier tonnage rules

The treaty set national carrier allocations, a normal individual limit of 27,000 tons, and an exception for two ships of up to 33,000 tons. Two large conversions could consume so much of a national allowance that little room remained for other carriers, especially under Japan's 81,000-ton total. The quoted articles also limited heavy guns while leaving smaller anti-aircraft weapons unrestricted, reflecting uncertainty about whether carriers might still fight more like gun-armed capital ships. Worked examples turn the legal totals into plausible fleets, showing that even Britain and the United States would have little room after building two large ships and two ships at the normal maximum.