The Washington Naval Treaty meant that none of these designs came to fruition . Ships that had been started were either broken up on the slipway or converted to aircraft carriers . In Japan , '' Amagi '' and were selected for conversion . '' Amagi '' was damaged beyond repair by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and was broken up for scrap ; the hull of one of the proposed '' Tosa '' - class battleships , , was converted in her stead . The United States Navy also converted two battlecruiser hulls into aircraft carriers in the wake of the Washington Treaty : and , although this was only considered marginally preferable to scrapping the hulls outright ( the remaining four : '' Constellation '' , '' Ranger '' , '' Constitution '' and '' United States '' were scrapped ) . In Britain , Fisher 's " large light cruisers , " were converted to carriers . '' Furious '' had already been partially converted during the war and '' Glorious '' and '' Courageous '' were similarly converted
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
Battlecruiser