The British Empire would have to maintain Atlantic and Indian Ocean forces, while the United States would have to divide strength between Atlantic and Pacific. Fleets that cannot readily combine cannot safely be limited under the same treaty assumptions. Each power would judge treaty tonnage against the strongest threat in each separate theatre rather than against a single concentrated fleet. A treaty system might therefore be too loose to matter or fail to emerge at all.
Notable Point · 28:06-30:42
Separated fleets make naval limits harder
Without Suez and Panama, Britain and the United States need separate oceanic fleets, weakening the logic of interwar naval limitation.