Themes

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• Washington Naval Treaty

• London Naval Treaty

London Naval Treaty

Great Britain, Japan, France, Italy and the United States signed this treaty on 22nd April 1930. It sought to regulate submarine warfare and further extended the conditions agreed in the Washington Naval Treaty. The construction of submarines was limited to vessels less than 2032 metric tons.

Article 22 of the treaty related to submarine warfare and 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".