Atreaty battleship was a battleship built in the 1920s or 1930s under the terms of one of a number of internationaltreaties governingwarship construction. Many of these ships played an active role in the Second World War, but few survived long after it.
The first of the treaties was theWashington Naval Treaty signed in 1922, the world's five naval powers agreed to abide by strict restrictions on the construction of battleships andbattlecruisers, in order to prevent anarms race in naval construction such as precededWorld War I. The Treaty limited the number of capital ships possessed by each signatory, and also the totaltonnage of each navy's battleships. New ships could only be constructed to replace the surviving ships as they retired after 20 years' service. Furthermore, any new ship would be limited to guns of 16-inch caliber and a displacement of 35,000 tons.
The Washington Treaty limits were extended and modified by theLondon Naval Treaty of 1930 and theSecond London Naval Treaty of 1936. During the 1930s, however, the effectiveness of these agreements broke down, as some signatory powers (in particular Japan) withdrew from the treaty arrangements and others only paid lip service to them. By 1938, Britain and the USA had both invoked an 'escalator clause' in the Second London Treaty which allowed battleships of up to 45,000 tons displacement, and the Treaty was effectively defunct.
The strict limits on displacement forced the designers of battleships to make compromises which they might have wished to avoid given the choice. The 1920s and 1930s saw a number of innovations in battleship design, particularly in engines, underwater protection, and aircraft.
AfterWorld War I ended in 1918, a large number of treaties aiming to ensure peace were signed. According to historian Larry Addington it was "the greatest effort to that time to control armaments and to discourage war through treaty".[1] These treaties ranged from theTreaty of Versailles, which contained provisions were intended to make theReichswehr incapable of offensive action and to encourage international disarmament,[2][3][4] to theKellogg–Briand Pact of 1928, in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them".[5] Specific naval treaties that emerged during this era include theWashington Naval Treaty in 1921 and theLondon Naval Treaty in 1930.[6][7]
In the latter half of and after World War I, the United States embarked on a largebattleship construction program, with the passage of theNaval Act of 1916 allowing for the construction of ten battleships.[8] TheNaval Appropriations Act of 1917 authorized the construction of a further three battleships,[9] to the point that it was projected the United States would be comparable to theRoyal Navy in strength by 1923 or 1924. In response, the British Navy began campaigning for a ship building program, proposing building theG3 battlecruisers. Such proposals were unpopular and viewed as unnecessarily expensive.[10][11] The Japanese government was also embarking on a large program ofwarship building. Britain was eager to engage in naval limitation talks, fearing the danger America's aggressive ship building posed to their empire. All three countries were open to negotiations as a result of the massive cost of building and maintaining a large navy.[12]
In December 1919, formerBritish Foreign SecretaryLord Grey of Fallodon andSecretary of State for Foreign AffairsLord Robert Cecil metEdward M. House, the adviser ofWoodrow Wilson, in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, the United States temporarily agreed to slow battleship building in exchange for the British withdrawing their opposition to inclusion of theMonroe Doctrine in theLeague of Nations Covenant.[13]
From 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922,[14] theWashington Naval Conference was held to stop a naval arms race from emerging.[15] Nine nations attended at the request ofSecretary of StateCharles Evans Hughes; the United States, Japan, China, France, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Portugal.[16] The conference led to theNine-Power Treaty, which reaffirmed support for theOpen Door Policy towardsChina; theFour-Power Treaty in which the United States, United Kingdom, France and Japan agreed to maintain thestatus quo in the Pacific, by respecting the Pacific territories of the other countries signing the agreement, not seeking further territorial expansion, and mutual consultation with each other in the event of a dispute over territorial possessions.[6][15]
The most important treaty signed during the conference was the Washington Naval Treaty, or Five-Power Treaty, between the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.[15] The treaty strictly limited both the tonnage and construction ofcapital ships andaircraft carriers and included limits of the size of individual ships. The tonnage limits defined by ArticlesIV andVII limited the United States and Great Britain to 525,000 tons in their capital fleets, Japan to 315,000 tons and France and Italy to 175,000 tons. It instituted a 10-year "battleship building holiday". No agreements were reached oncruiser tonnage amounts andsubmarines.[15] The treaty limited capital ships (battleships and battlecruisers, defined as any warship with guns more than 8-inch in caliber and 10,000 tonsstandard displacement) to 35,000 tons standard displacement and guns of no larger than 16-inch calibre.[17]
Chapter II, Part 2, detailed what was to be done to render a ship ineffective for military use. In addition to sinking or scrapping, a limited number of ships could be converted as target ships or training vessels if their armament, armour and other combat-essential parts were removed completely.Part 3, Section II specified the ships to be scrapped to comply with the treaty and when the remaining ships could be replaced.[18] In all, the United States had to scrap 26 existing or planned capital ships, Britain 24 and Japan 16.[19]
TheFirst Geneva Naval Conference was a meeting of the United States, Great Britain and Japan (France and Italy declined to engage in further negotiations) called together byCalvin Coolidge in 1927. The aim of the Conference was to extend the existing limits on naval construction which had been agreed in the Washington Naval Treaty. The Washington Treaty had limited the construction of battleships and aircraft carriers, but had not limited the construction of cruisers,destroyers or submarines.[20] The British proposed limiting battleships to be under 30,000 tons, with 15-inch guns. The Conference ended with no agreement reached.[21] TheSecond Geneva Naval Conference in 1932 similarly ended without an agreement, after nations deadlocked over rearmament of Germany.[22]
The limits set in the Washington Naval Treaty were reiterated by theLondon Naval Treaty signed in 1930. A limit of 57,000 tons for submarines was decided upon, and the battleship building holiday was extended for a further ten years.[7] Signed in 1936, theSecond London Naval Treaty further limited guns to 14-inch calibre. The Second London Treaty contained a clause which allowed construction of battleships with 16-inch guns if any of the signatories of the Washington Treaty failed to ratify the new one. It contained an additional clause which allowed displacement restrictions to be relaxed if non-signatories built vessels more powerful than the treaty allowed.[23][24]
The Washington and London Naval treaty limitations meant that fewer new battleships were launched in 1919–1939 than in 1905–1914 due to an imposed battleship construction holiday, which ended in 1933. They also inhibited development by imposing upper limits on the weights of ships. Designs like the projected BritishN3-class battleship, the first AmericanSouth Dakota class, and the JapaneseKii class—all of which continued the trend to larger ships with bigger guns and thicker armor—never finished construction.[25]
TheJapanese battleship Mutsu was laid down on 1 June 1918.[26] It was one of the largest battleships in the world at the time, and at the Washington Naval Conference, the United Kingdom and United States urged the abandonment of the project. However, it was allowed under the condition that the US and UK got two additional 16-inch gun ships. In 1920, Japan began building theAmagi andAkagi. The next year, theKaga andTosa were launched with around a 39,900-ton displacement. Upon the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty,Amagi andTosa were abandoned andKaga andAkagi were converted to 30,000-ton aircraft carriers.[15][27] While a party to the treaty, Japan completely halted construction of battleships, instead focusing on battlecruisers. They embarked on an extensive cruiser building program, and began aggressively modernizing naval equipment.[28] After leaving the treaty in 1936, they planned to construct theYamato class, which would be the largest battleships in the world. Two were completed duringWorld War II and a third was converted to an aircraft carrier.[27]
The United States was allowed to keep threeColorado-class battleships that had been funded in the Naval Act of 1916 and a total of 500,360 tons of capital ships in the Washington Naval Treaty. Reduced naval spending by theRepublican Party led to the navy remaining well below the maximum size specified in the treaty. Construction on several others was stopped, and the hull of the abandonedUSSWashington was used for testing resistance to bombs, torpedoes and gunfire. Technical development and research towards battleships was severely restricted. TheUSS Lexington andSaratoga were originally designed as battlecruisers with 33,000 ton displacement, but were converted into aircraft carriers while under construction following passage of the treaty.[29] The United States decommissioned a total of sixteen existing battleships, and stopped construction on the six ships of the firstSouth Dakota class. The United States modernized their fleet but did not build up to treaty limits.[30] The battleship holiday was extremely popular among the general public.[31] The ships of theNevada class had their gun elevations increased although the British argued it was a violation of the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.[32]
The Royal Navy scrapped or stopped construction on sixteen ships as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty.HMS Hood (40,000 tons displacement) was exempted from the restrictions set by the treaty. After the signing of the treaty, as a result of compromise with Japan, twoNelson-class treaty battleships were built,HMS Nelson andRodney, the only two built by the Royal Navy until 1936.[15][28][33][32] Their navy, while it remained the largest in the world until 1933, became increasingly out of date. Though the Royal Navy had the most battleships active at the outbreak of World War II, all but two dated back to World War I or earlier.[34] As a result of the battleship building holiday, theArmstrong andBeardmore shipyards were forced to close.[31]
France and Italy did not embark on large naval expansion programs, though theFrench battleshipBéarn was converted to an aircraft carrier.[28]
| Ship | Country | Class | Displacement (Long tons) | Main Gun | First commissioned | Fate | End of service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nagato |  Imperial Japanese Navy | Nagato | 39,130 | 41 cm (16 in)/45 3rd Year Type | 25 November 1920 | Sunk as target 29 July 1946 | |
| Mutsu | Imperial Japanese Navy | Nagato | 39,050 | 41 cm (16 in)/45 3rd Year Type | 24 October 1921 | Sunk in harbor by internal explosion 8 June 1943 | 8 June 1943 |
| Colorado |  United States Navy | Colorado | 31,500 | 16"/45 caliber Mark 1 | 30 August 1923 | Sold for scrap, 23 July 1959 | 23 July 1959 |
| Maryland | United States Navy | Colorado | 32,600 | 16"/45 caliber Mark 1 | 21 July 1921 | Decommissioned 1947, scrapped 1959 | |
| West Virginia | United States Navy | Colorado | 31,500 | 16"/45 caliber Mark 1 | 1 December 1923 | Decommissioned 9 January 1947, scrapped 1959 | 9 January 1947 |
| Hood |  Royal Navy | Admiral | 42,100 | BL 15-inch Mk I | 5 March 1920 | Sunk 24 May 1941 |
The Washington Naval Treaty was signed by the US, UK, Japan, France and Italy—all the principal naval powers. At various stages Italy and France opted out of further negotiations; however, their economic resources did not permit the development of super-battleships. Germany, while not permitted any battleships by the Treaty of Versailles, developed one in the 1930s; this was legitimised by theAnglo-German Naval Agreement, which placed Germany under the same legal limits as Britain.[35]
Japan's policies were largely decided bymilitarists through the 1930s. Partially influenced by the passage of theVinson-Trammell Act in 1934, and theNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, in 1934 Japan announced they planned to leave the treaty system in two years. At the Second London conference, Japan showed willingness to negotiate, but left the conference in January 1936 and other treaties expired on 31 December 1936.[36][37] They built mammoth treaty-busting battleships–theYamato class.[38]
As a result of the treaties, by the timerearmament began in the 1930s, before the onset of World War II, the world's battleships were largely aging and obsolete due to therise of air power and increasing use of submarines. As a result,dreadnought technology had dramatically improved, and the building of new and upgrading old battleships began in earnest.[39]
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