Part of British cabinet against British naval shipbuilding program and battleships according to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad dated 9 December 1920

An item referred to the British newspaper Daily Mail which reported that within the British cabinet some ministers resisted against the intention of the Admiralty to add to the next budget a shipbuilding program. The admiralty stated that since the USA and Japan were building capital ships (battleships and battle cruisers) the United Kingdom needed to built also capital ships preventing her entering she would become the third major naval power behind both other two countries. Except for that was also a discussion going on of capital ships regarded the experiences in the First World War really were needed. Sir Percy said that building such expensive ships (each 9-8 million pond sterling) was a mistake while one single aircraft or submarine was able to destroy such a ship. It was the problem of the USA and Japan that they did not realized that submarines and aircraft changed the rules of a war at sea. There was none reason that the United Kingdom would make the same mistake and she could not afford the luxury of doing so.