When treaty battleship ratios outrun national economies

Is there a maximum battleship allowance beyond which a naval treaty becomes unworkable?

Not as a simple legal threshold, but high ceilings would expose unequal economic capacity and could push Japan toward bankruptcy while Britain and America sustained larger fleets.

A notional treaty could allow thirty battleships each to Britain and the United States and twenty to Japan. Japan's preferred seven-to-ten ratio would imply twenty-one, making twenty symbolically just below that figure. France and Italy might then seek around thirteen each. The British and American economies are judged broad enough to sustain such fleets, although Britain would replace ships gradually and still face debt. Britain could also spread part of its allocation among Australia, Canada, and possibly India. Japan, by contrast, could bankrupt itself trying to reach twenty ships, despite the treaty permitting that number.