Britain regards the Indian Ocean as secure while Europe and the Mediterranean demand more attention. The American fleet is heavily weighted toward battleships and lacks enough cruisers and destroyers to screen them. The British operational answer is to overwhelm that screen with light forces and then attack the battleships with torpedoes. A rough availability rule requires three ships in service for each one needed at a given time. In the example, maintaining forty available destroyers requires about 120 in the force, so a nominal total of twenty offers little reassurance. Even if all twenty turn up, a British force with sixty destroyers could overwhelm the screen. A battleship-only reading of Mahan is criticized here for neglecting the escorts needed to make the battle fleet effective.
Notable Point · 18:02-20:47
A battleship fleet needs enough escorts
The early American fleet illustrates how a shortage of available cruisers and destroyers leaves battleships exposed to torpedo attack.