 While Mutsu was still fitting out, the American government decided to call a conference in Washington, D.C. to forestall the massively expensive naval arms race between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan that was developing. The Washington Naval Conference convened on 12 November, and the Americans proposed to scrap virtually every capital ship under construction or fitting out among the participating nations. Mutsu was specifically listed among those to be scrapped even though she had been commissioned a few weeks earlier. This was unacceptable to the Japanese delegation and they agreed to a compromise that allowed them to keep Mutsu in exchange for scrapping the obsolete dreadnought Settsu and a similar arrangement for several American Colorado-class dreadnoughts that were fitting out.
