A nominal station differed from a fully equipped support base such as Cape Town. Fuel stocks, stores, repair capacity, and transport links determine whether a dot on a map can sustain major warships. Slow commercial or naval tankers could move fuel between hubs, leaving the limited fast oilers for the final run to operational forces. This layered geography made British needs different from those of an American fleet crossing the Pacific from Pearl Harbor.
Notable Point · 30:25-35:01
A base is not automatically a supply base
A point on a map only becomes a useful naval base when it has fuel, stores, repair capacity, and a workable connection to the fleet.