Britain could enforce blockade with contracts as well as cruisers

British blockade practice included buying goods before Germany could obtain them, alongside stopping merchant ships with naval force. Agents purchased Swedish ball bearings during the First World War for British use and to reduce German access. A Second World War example describes Britain buying 90 percent of Turkish chromium production in 1941-44 while using only 10 percent of what it bought. Those recalled figures illustrate the purpose of the purchases: paying enough to deny Germany a material it needed, even when Britain accumulated a large surplus. The discussion links that policy to the chromium stockpile remaining after the war. Economic denial could depend on contracts and purchasing power as well as interception at sea.