armor protection. The Reichsmarine eventually opted for guns to avoid provoking the Allies and to ease pressures on the design staff. The Reichsmarine held a conference to evaluate the designs in May 1925, though the results were inconclusive. Of particular importance was the continued French occupation of the Ruhr industrial area, which prevented Germany from quickly building large-caliber artillery. Nevertheless, the design staff prepared another set of designs, "I/35", a heavily armored ship with a single triple turret forward, and "VIII/30", a more lightly-armored ship with a pair of twin turrets. The Reichsmarine initially intended to lay down the first armored ship in 1926, but the design had not yet been finalized. The 1926 maneuvers informed the design staff that greater speed was desirable, and that year, a further two designs were submitted to Zenker. The initial design for Deutschland, ordered as "Panzerschiff A", was prepared in 1926 and finalized by 1928. Zenker announced on 11 June 1927 that the Navy had settled on one of several proposals for the new warships. The Reichsmarine had decided that the new ships would be armed with two triple turrets mounting 28 cm guns. Political opposition to the new ships was significant. The Reichsmarine therefore decided to delay ordering the ship until after the Reichstag elections in 1928. The question over whether to build the new ships was a major issue in elections, particularly with the Social Democrats, who strongly opposed the new ships and campaigned with the slogan "Food not Panzerkreuzer." In May 1928, the elections were concluded and enough of a majority in favor of the new ships was elected; this included twelve seats won by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. An October 1928 attempt by the Communist Party of Germany to initiate a referendum against the construction failed. The first of the new ships was authorized in November 1928. When the particulars of the design became known by the Allies, they attempted to prevent Germany from building them. The Reichsmarine offered to halt construction on the first ship in exchange for admittance to the Washington Treaty with a ratio of to Britain's allotment of of capital ship tonnage. In doing so, this would effectively abrogate the clauses in the Treaty of Versailles that limited Germany's naval power. Britain and the United States favored making concessions to Germany, but France refused to allow any revisions to the Treaty of Versailles. Since the