Why Britain and America exchanged different kinds of naval support

The later exchange of naval assistance illustrates why Allied strength could not be measured only by total ship numbers. The United States sent capital ships to assist convoy escort while Britain sent a carrier to help American operations. In this comparison, the Americans had capital ships available but too few carriers after their operational losses, while Britain faced the opposite balance. Sharing existing ships helped each navy obtain the category it lacked. Both still faced limits on how quickly replacement carriers and capital ships could be built.