The central diplomatic change would replace Washington's single capital-ship framework with separate battleship and battlecruiser categories. Britain and Japan could invoke trade protection, while the United States could accept the category because its Lexingtons were already under construction. The proposed ship limits are 40,000 tons for battlecruisers, 35,000 tons for battleships, and 27,000 tons for aircraft carriers, with parallel 5:5:3:2:2 battlecruiser and carrier allocations. Separate entitlements for Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand would formalize the prewar fleet-unit concept around local sea-lane defence. Negotiations would remain difficult because the United States could demand parity with the combined British and Dominion total. Reducing each Dominion entitlement to three-quarters of a full unit is one suggested compromise, although the worked scenario retains a full unit to simplify the arithmetic. These figures are bargaining assumptions within the scenario.
Chapter · 34:39-38:59
A separate Washington category could preserve battlecruisers
Retention requires separate treaty categories for battleships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers, with fast capital ships justified by their trade-protection role.