Banco de dados da Segunda Guerra Mundial (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn 1930, diplomats from Britain, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States gathered in Britain to extend the provisions set with the Washington Naval Treaty of 21 Aug 1923. At the end of the conference, the diplomats agreed to build no new capital ships until 1937, no ships were to be converted to aircraft carriers, and some of the existing capital ships were to be scrapped for the sake of limiting the world's capacity to make war. It made sense at the time; the western world had just come out of the horrors of World War I, and no one wished such a costly struggle again. In addition to the limitation on capital ships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines were all limited in quantity and displacement. Rules of engagement for submarines against merchant vessels were established clearly as well.

ww2dbaseA particularly interesting note out of this treaty was the 10:10:7 tonnage ratio for the nations of United States, Britain, and Japan, respectively. While all signatories agreed to this arrangement, this seeming bias ratio against Japan was to cause subsequent unpleasantries among the Japanese in the next few years. Unlike the Japanese representatives who signed the treaty despite of the perceived inequality, those representing France and Italy refused to partake in the resulting agreement.

ww2dbaseThe resulting treaty was also called the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament.

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