The growth of coaling ports provided the decisive infrastructure behind the ironclad transition. The number of harbours supplying coal roughly tripled between Napoléon and Warrior, then increased about fourfold again by the Royal Sovereign era. Engines, armour, and guns meant little if ships lacked fuel, food, and other necessities. The global support network made sustained steam operations viable. Technological change at sea depended on a parallel logistical transformation ashore.
Chapter · 40:22-41:21
Coal stations made global steam power possible
The rapid multiplication of coaling ports provided the fuel network that turned steam propulsion from a shipboard innovation into a practical basis for global naval operations.