Abstract
The Naval Disarmament Conference was held in Geneva between 20 June – 4 August
1927 on the initiative of the American President Calvin Coolidge. It was a continuation
of the process initiated during the Washington Conference (12 November 1921
– 6 February 1922). It was then that Great Britain, the United States of America, Japan,
France and Italy determined the ratio of the naval forces in the class of battleships and
aircraft carriers in line with the following: 5 : 5 : 3 : 1.75 : 1.75. During the so-called
Coolidge Conference (1927) the American party did its best to conclude an international
treaty and consequently achieve parity between the US Navy and Royal Navy in all
classes of warships.
The British government accepted an invitation to the Geneva Conference (1927)
assuming that their delegation would succeed in forcing through the disarmament plan
formulated by the Admiralty. The plan was aimed at modifying the Washington Treaty
in order that the British Empire could make savings and at the same time improve her
national security. The British plan was aimed at prolonging the service life of battleships
and aircraft carriers, reducing the displacement and calibre of guns carried by battleships,
and, last but not least, dividing the cruisers into heavy and light as well as imposing
limitations only on the number of the former.
The British plan met with strong objection from the American delegation. Attempts
made to reach a consensus over parity between the Royal and US Navy
in the class of cruisers were unsuccessful, and the conference eventually turned
into a fiasco. Such a state of affairs had to do with strategic, political and economic
issues. The Admiralty opposed to reaching an agreement which put the security
of the British Empire at a serious risk, and the majority of the British ministers
were inclined to believe that the conference breakdown would be lesser evil
than agreeing to the American demands. The British diplomats strove for adopting
a common stance with the Japanese delegation in order that the responsibility for the
conference collapse rested with the American party.