Dominion security depended on the Royal Navy

Canada was willing to contribute money and supplies while avoiding the expense of a substantial peacetime fleet. Australia sought stronger local forces because maritime communications and widely separated population centres made sea power central to its security. New Zealand, with less population and fewer resources, depended even more directly on British naval strength. Those different circumstances still produced a united Commonwealth position against numerical cruiser limits because each Dominion relied on British ships to cover risks it could not meet alone.