 While Mutsu was still fitting out , the American government decided to call a conference in Washington , D.C. to forestall the massively expensive naval arms race between the United States , the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan that was developing . The Washington Naval Conference convened on 12 November , and the Americans proposed to scrap virtually every capital ship under construction or fitting out among the participating nations . Mutsu was specifically listed among those to be scrapped even though she had been commissioned a few weeks earlier . This was unacceptable to the Japanese delegation and they agreed to a compromise that allowed them to keep Mutsu in exchange for scrapping the obsolete dreadnought Settsu and a similar arrangement for several American Colorado @-@ class dreadnoughts that were fitting out . 
