The battlecruiser-carrier Far East response force

The force could reach the Far East ahead of slower battleships, reinforce local cruisers, threaten Japanese commerce, and support escalation control. If war followed, it could join the arriving battle fleet and later remain for blockade and trade warfare while slower capital ships returned to European waters. The concept anticipates wartime formations built around a fast capital ship, carrier, cruisers, and destroyers. More heavy cruisers, together with growing Town-class numbers, could eventually have absorbed much of this large-cruiser work and weakened the case for new battlecruisers.