The Royal Navy's blockade concept against Japan

Rear Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond framed the strategy as a coercive cycle: cut Japan's essential supplies to force its fleet out, then defeat that fleet so the blockade could close. His comparison with Germany was imperfect because Germany retained internal land transport and access to Baltic imports. Britain's First World War blockade also relied on buying neutral supplies before they reached Germany, rather than relying solely on interception. Japan depended more heavily on coastal shipping and imported food, fuel, and raw materials. British submarines would conduct the close blockade, cruisers would suppress Japanese countermeasures, and the battle fleet would fight when economic pressure forced the Japanese fleet out. Singapore was the theater-entry base rather than the final operating position; the intended advance ran through Hong Kong to Weihaiwei. The concept resembles the later American submarine campaign, though 1920s aviation and Japanese industry created a different operating environment.