Successive American building plans drove the Eight-Eight programme. A 1916 US plan for sixteen ships prompted Japan's 4-4 response, and another sixteen-ship proposal in 1919 pushed planning toward 8-8. Japan knew it could not match American numbers, so it sought enough technological advantage to prevent an easy defeat and compel an opponent to take the fleet seriously. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was expected to discourage other powers from joining a conflict and leave Japan facing the divided American fleet. Japanese naval planning treated blockade and protected sea access as defensive means of preserving trade.
Chapter · 21:21-23:41
The Eight-Eight Fleet as qualitative deterrence
Japan answered expanding American construction with a smaller fleet whose technological edge could deter an easy attack or defeat.