What specifically did the Washington naval conference seek to limit and why did this cause problems for the us and the other democracies later?

Answer 1

The Washington Naval Conference of 1921-22 resulted in a number of treaties between the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, whose primary effect was to limit the size and displacement of warships.

Arms control treaties all share two common points; democracies use them as a way to cut spending on the military in order to pay for other priorities, while totalitarian governments plan to cheat. A few of the major effects after the beginning of World War II were these;

The battleship HMS Hood, limited by treaty to a maximum displacement of 35,000 tons, was built with little or no armor plate protecting some areas of the ship. HMS Hood was destroyed when a shell exploded inside the ship's magazines during its battle with the German battle cruiser Bismarck.

The Bismarck, treaty-limited to the same 35,000 tons displacement, was actually about 25% heavier, at 45,000 tons displacement. The heavier armor allowed the ship to survive several hours of intense bombardment when the steering gear of the Bismarck was damaged by an air-dropped torpedo, which rendered the Bismarck uncontrollable. Its sister ship Tirpitz was similarly oversized.

The Japanese battleship Yamato was half-again as large, at 72,000 tons displacement. Had the Yamato been pitted against American battleships like the ones destroyed at Pearl Harbor, the size difference would have been the deciding factor.