 The U.S. Navy was smaller than the Royal Navy in 1919 , but ships laid down under its wartime construction program were still being launched , and their more recent construction gave the American ships a technological edge . The " two @-@ power standard " of 1889 called for a Royal Navy strong enough to take on any two other powers . In 1909 , this was scaled back to a policy of 60 % superiority in dreadnoughts . Rising tensions over the U.S. Navy 's building program led to heated arguments between the First Sea Lord , Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss , and the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson in March and April 1919 , although , as far back as 1909 , the government directed that the United States was not to be regarded as a potential enemy . This decision was reaffirmed by Cabinet in August 1919 in order to preclude the U.S. Navy 's building program from becoming a justification for the Admiralty initiating one of its own . In 1920 , the First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Walter Long announced a " one @-@ power standard " , under which the policy was to maintain a navy " not ... inferior in strength to the Navy of any other power " . The one @-@ power standard became official when it was publicly announced at the 1921 Imperial Conference . The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 reinforced this policy . 
