Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was signed in 1922 among the major Allied powers of World War I to prevent a naval arms race by limiting warship construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Naval Conference held in Washington, D.C. from November 1921 to February 1922, and was signed by the governments of the British Empire, the United States, France, Italy and Japan. The treaty limited the construction of battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers by its signatories, though other categories of warships, such as cruisers, destroyers and submarines, were left unlimited except for a 10,000 ton displacement cap on each individual ship.