After the failure of the second London Naval Treaty, the British Admiralty again engaged in designing heavy cruisers in the face of the fact that the Germans and Japanese were building ships of this class that went beyond the agreements of the Washington Treaty. In 1938, a project of a ship with a displacement of 20,000 tons and armed with nine or twelve 203–234 mm guns was presented. The ship was deemed too expensive, and the project was shelved.