British Lord of the Admiralty Hoare regretted if calibre of main armament and tonnage of battleships were further increased according to the Dutch newspaper Leeuwarder courant dated 19 March 1937

An item reported that Sir Samuel Hoare (1) stated in the House of Commons that he received none official tidings that the Japanese admiralty decided to fit out her battleships with 40,6cm/16” guns despite what the press wrote. He would regret it if any power decided to start manufacturing guns with a calibre larger as 35,6cm/14” of building battleships larger as 35.000 tons.

Note
1. Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (24 February 1880 London, England-7 May 1959 London, England), conservative politician and First Lord of the Admiralty 1936-1937 and then responsible for ordering the first 3 ships of the King George V-class battleships