Japan already had Fuji and Yashima under construction, so the plan added four battleships rather than beginning from a blank slate. Fleet balance cannot be reduced to universal ratios among capital ships, cruisers, escorts, torpedo craft, and auxiliaries. A fleet is balanced only when those proportions also meet the nation's trade, geography, manpower, and likely wartime missions. A theoretically neat fleet that enters war short of escorts shows why operational demand must govern the proportions. Japan reached its answer through sustained institutional discussion rather than asking one foreign adviser to reproduce a miniature Royal Navy or French Navy.
Chapter · 29:02-32:29
A balanced fleet means balance against national needs
The Six-Six Fleet expanded an existing force around Japan's specific strategic and maritime requirements rather than copying a foreign navy.