Treaty of Rome (1931)

On January 21, 1930, a conference on the limitation of naval weapons with the participation of Great Britain, the USA , Japan , Italy and France opened in London. During the negotiations, sharp contradictions arose between the participants, as a result of which the London Sea Treaty worked out at the conference was signed on April 22, 1930 only by Great Britain, the USA and Japan. France and Italy refused to sign the contract.

After the London Conference, relations between France and Italy sharply worsened. Both countries embarked on a naval arms race. In this situation, the United Kingdom offered the parties its mediation services, which led to the start of trilateral negotiations in February 1931 ^[1] .

The Roman Maritime Treaty, also known as the Roman Pact, was signed on March 1, 1931 in Rome ^[1] . The contract consisted of three parts and in total included seven points. The agreement stipulated both general provisions and specific restrictions on the structure and development of the fleets of the participating countries, taking into account the terms of the Washington and London sea treaties.

• Italy and France could build aircraft carriers with a total displacement of 34,000 tons until December 31, 1936 ( Part I, paragraph a ).
• Italy and France could build two battleships with a displacement of no more than 23,333 tons each by December 31, 1936 ( Part I, paragraph b ).
• The total tonnage of battleships for Italy and France was set at 181,000 tons, instead of 175,000 tons under the Washington Agreement ( Part I, paragraph c ).
• After the completion of the shipbuilding programs of 1930, the construction of new heavy cruisers was prohibited ( Part II, paragraph a ).
• The tonnage of new light cruisers and destroyers should not exceed the tonnage of the corresponding combat units withdrawn from the fleets before December 31, 1936 ( Part II, paragraph b ).
• Great Britain, Italy, and France pledged until December 31, 1936 not to replace destroyers that were in service for less than 16 years ( Part II, paragraph b ) ^[2] .
• After the implementation of shipbuilding programs in 1930, a ban on the construction of submarines was introduced. The fate of the submarines was to be decided by the Geneva Conference ( Part II, paragraph c ).
• France and Italy assumed obligations in Part III of the 1936 London Treaty, to the extent that they did not contradict the Rome Treaty ( Part III, paragraph a ).
• Constant proportions between the fleets were not determined, the question of replacing obsolete ships by December 31, 1936 remained open ( Part III, paragraph b ) ^[3] .

As a result of the conclusion of the Rome Sea Treaty, each of the parties could consider this document as beneficial for itself in some aspects. Britain retained an advantage over Italy and France in the number of heavy cruisers and hoped that the new battleships in these countries would be weaker than the British. France maintained an advantage over all naval powers in the total tonnage of submarines and an advantage over Italy in most classes of ships. Italy managed to fix the equality with France in the number of heavy cruisers - 7: 7 ^[4] .

• Naval rivalry and conflicts in 1919-1939 / ed. Taras A. E .. - Minsk: Harvest, 2003 .-- ISBN 985-13-1622-9 .