Washington Naval Conference

Sarah Jang

What?

• Military conference called by the administration of President Warren G. Harding, from Nov.1921~ Feb. 1922

• Three major treaties emerged out of the Washington Conference: the Five-Power Treaty, the Four-Power Treaty, and the Nine-Power Treaty.

• Primary objective was to inhibit Japanese naval expansion in the waters of the west Pacific

Effects

• The Washington Naval Treaty led to an effective end to building new battleship fleets and those few ships that were built were limited in size and armament.

• Numbers of existing capital ships were scrapped. Some ships under construction were turned into aircraft carriers instead.

BUT!!

• Although the Five-Power Treaty controlled tonnage of each navy’s warships, some classes of ships were left unrestricted. As a result, a new race to build cruiser ships emerged after 1922, leading the powers back to the negotiating table in 1927 and 1930 to close the remaining loopholes in the agreements.