Overwhelming force in Victorian naval coercion

Modern language about proportional response differs from a nineteenth-century preference for making resistance impossible. A hostile squadron might be double-enveloped, destroyed, and followed by a blockade or bombardment of its principal harbor. Cruisers that could fight alongside battleships helped create that numerical and tactical overmatch. The aim was to remove the opponent's immediate ability to repeat the challenge. The Cressys' heavy armament and fleet role therefore belonged to coercive policy as well as naval combat.