The British Admiralty likely knew figures similar to those in Holtzendorff's memorandum. In this interpretation, convoying could appear to concede that the navy could not protect trade through its existing methods. The point is an institutional explanation rather than a claim proved by the memorandum itself. Opening here shows how recognising a material problem and accepting a politically uncomfortable remedy can be two different decisions.
Notable Point · 17:12-17:40
Why knowing the shipping problem did not produce convoys
The Admiralty may have known the shipping figures yet resisted convoying because adopting it could look like an admission that existing methods had failed.