Archive access shaped the Tribal destroyer book

Alex Clarke limited his book's treatment of Canadian and Australian Tribal destroyers because COVID restrictions prevented visits to their primary archives. He chose a mainly British Royal Navy focus, including the other navies where their ships worked with British Tribals. His standard for the book required direct access to primary documents instead of constructing the account entirely from other historians' books. He distinguishes that research choice from his teaching videos, whose broad subjects often require secondary works. Subsequent archive visits made additions to a future edition possible, without a commitment that they would appear.