Second London Naval Treaty

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The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on December 9, 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on March 25, 1936.

The signatories were the governments of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The government of Japan, which had been a signatory of the First London Naval Treaty, had withdrawn from the conference on January 15. Italy also declined to sign the treaty, largely as a result of public hostility over her invasion of Abyssinia.

The conference was intended to limit the growth in naval armaments until its expiry in 1942. The absence of Japan (a very significant naval power) prevented agreement on a ceiling on the numbers of warships. The treaty did limit the maximum size of the signatories' ships, and the maximum calibre of the guns which they could carry. For example, submarines could not be larger than 2,000 tons or have a gun armament of greater than 5.1-inches, cruisers were restricted to 8,000 tons or less and capital ships to 35,000 tons and 14-inch guns. An escalator clause was included which allowed capital ships 16-inch guns and 45,000 tons displacement if foreign navies began commissioning such ships.

This treaty effectively ended on 1 September 1939 with the beginning of World War II. Even during its brief period of supposed effectiveness, its clauses were honored more in the breach than in the observance; the only "treaty" cruisers the United States commissioned (the St. Louis class light cruiser), for example, were over 5,000 tons heavier than the treaty tonnage. Two classes of "Treaty" Battleships were built by the United States: the North Carolina class and the South Dakota class (the "SoDaks" were designed with and protected against 16-inch guns; the North Carolinas were gunned with 16-inch weapons after Japan refused to accept the Treaty but their protection against those weapons was somewhat substandard). The Iowa class was designed after the beginning of World War II and was developed without any thought in mind of the treaties; other than the monstrous Yamato class, the Iowa class was the heaviest class of battleship ever put to sea (Vanguard was heavier than the Iowas at standard loading, but lighter at full load).

Article 22 of the 1930 Treaty of London relating to submarine warfare declared that international law applied to them as to surface vessels. Also merchant vessels which did not demonstrate "persistent refusal to stop" or "active resistance" could not be sunk without the ship's crew and passengers being first delivered to a "place of safety". The 1936 treaty confirmed that Article 22 of the 1930 treaty remained in force, and "all others Powers [were invited] to express their assent to the rules embodied in this Article" <ref>Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armaments, (Part IV, Art. 22, relating to submarine warfare). London, 22 April 1930</ref> <ref>Procès-verbal relating to the Rules of Submarine Warfare set forth in Part IV of the Treaty of London of 22 April 1930. London, 6 November 1936</ref> It was this provision which was used at the post war Nuremberg Trial of Karl Dönitz for ordering unrestricted submarine warfare.