Trade intelligence makes distant blockade practical

Britain could use a distant blockade to stop Japanese supplies while keeping its main fleet away from an early decisive battle. Long-running records of merchant movements and Japanese resource needs would let it intercept shipping or stop exports at their overseas sources before loading. The 70-cruiser requirement reflects this dispersed work, with a projected concentration of 28 at Hong Kong if that base can be secured. Fuel stocks at Singapore, Trincomalee, and Darwin support operations, while supplies from the Middle East cross the Indian Ocean. Flower-class corvettes, Hunt-class escort destroyers, and Black Swan-class sloops would protect trade and support the blockade, with undamaged industry making turbine and material constraints less severe. Britain could build up at Singapore for six or eight months, possibly a year, before advancing toward Hong Kong. Japan would face this pressure before accumulating its later resource stockpiles, while the bulk of Britain's trading system lies behind Singapore.