5Even as World War I was ending, the victorious great powers were already embarked on a potentially ruinous new naval arms race, competing to incorporate the wartime lessons and technology into ever-larger and costlier capital ships. This competition was curtailed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which effectively banned the construction of such ships for years to come, and mandated the scrapping of those under construction. This holiday was to have profound effects on design when battleship building was renewed in the 1930s, as later international agreements continued to restrict size and firepower.

This book investigates the implications of these treaties on technical developments. An analysis of how well these modern ships stood the test of war concludes this intriguing and original contribution to the literature.