Anglo-German Naval Agreement
Anglo-German Naval Agreement (A.G.N.A)
Exchange of Notes between His Majesty’s
Government in the United Kingdom and
the German Government regarding the
Limition of Naval Armaments
Type of treaty
Naval limitation agreement.
Signed
- location
June 18, 1935
London, United Kingdom
Signatories
United Kingdom
Germany
The Anglo-German Naval Agreement
(A.G.N.A) of June 18, 1935 was a bilateral
agreement between the United Kingdom and
German Reich regulating the size of the
Kriegsmarine in relation to the Royal Navy.
The A.G.N.A fixed a ratio where the total ton-
nage of the Kriegsmarine was to be 35% of
the total tonnage of the Royal Navy on a per-
manent basis.[1] The agreement was re-
nounced by Adolf Hitler on April 28, 1939.
The A.G.N.A was both an ambitious at-
tempt on both of London and Berlin to reach
better
relations,
but which
ultimately
floundered because of conflicting expecta-
tions between the two states. For the Ger-
mans, the A.G.N.A. was intended to mark the
beginning of an Anglo-German alliance
against France and the Soviet Union,[2]
whereas for the British, the A.G.N.A. was to
be the beginning of a series of arms limita-
tion agreements that were made to limit Ger-
man expansionism. The A.G.N.A was highly
controversial both at the time and since be-
cause the 35:100 tonnage ratio agreed to al-
lowed Germany the right to build a Navy bey-
ond the limits set by the Treaty of Versailles,
and the British had made the agreement
without consulting France or Italy first.
Background
Part V of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles had
imposed severe restrictions on the size and
capacities on the armed forces of the Reich.
In regards to the Navy, Germany was allowed
no submarines, no naval aviation, and no
battleships; the total naval forces allowed to
the Germans were six heavy cruisers of no
more than 10,000 tons displacement, six light
cruisers of no more than 6,000 tons displace-
ment, 12 destroyers of no more than 800 tons
displacement
and 12
torpedo boats.[3]
Through the interwar years