Worldwide yards gave the Royal Navy support and options that other fleets lacked. Each dock also represented a fixed entrance, basin, and repair space built for earlier ships. Planners faced a recurring choice between enlarging the shore establishment and designing new ships to fit it. Infrastructure expanded maritime reach while imposing a physical ceiling on later procurement.
Notable Point · 6:35-7:31
A global dockyard network can still constrain ship size
The Royal Navy inherited many docks worldwide, but each generation of larger warships demanded expensive expansion or tighter design limits.