Fisher's economies and Britain's overseas positions

Fisher's rationale was to concentrate crews in the force expected to meet a major opponent while keeping expenditure under control. The trade-off was global presence, where older or less powerful ships could still matter to imperial commitments and later strategic problems. A ship unsuited to a fleet battle could still provide useful presence on a distant station, so combat power at home and influence abroad could not be optimized by the same test. This was a force-structure decision rather than a simple argument for keeping every hull.