![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Speed was to be no more than 23 knots, the same as foreign battleships and the Nelson Class. Air attack with bombs of up to 910-kg (2000-lb) weight was to be taken info account. Armour protection was given top priority, since it was recognized that even if the conference agreed to reduce gun caliber the new ships would have to face opponents with 15-in (381-mm) and 16-in (406-mm) guns for some years. The Admiralty was particularly anxious that they must be laid down as soon as the existing Treaty expired, even if its successor produced lower limits on size and guns.ĭesign studies for new capital ships had begun in the spring of 1933 to allow the British delegates to have clear objectives at the 1935 conference, just as they had had at Washington. Concerned with rectifying what it saw as a serious weakness in the Royal Navy’s strength the Admiralty advised the Cabinet in May 1934 that the new Naval Treaty must allow Great Britain to build new battleships. The London Naval Treaty was due to expire in December 1936, and a new conference was on the verge of being convened to discuss how the limitations on the world’s fleets might be continued. The leading naval powers were anxious to continue the limitations enshrined in the treaties but not at the cast of their fighting efficiency. Although nominally still the largest in the world the Royal Navy had a large proportion of elderly capital ships, the majority of which would be unfit to fight their opposite numbers. ![]() What disturbed the Admiralty was the fact that the Royal Navy was considerably under strength for such a struggle. As early as 1934 the British government realized that the country was likely to be at war with either Germany or Japan by 1941, and possibly both, with Italy conceivably intervening. ![]()
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