Even willing delegates would struggle to define equality because fleet numbers did not translate evenly across imperial geographies. Russia could claim separate requirements in northern waters, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Pacific. Britain could point to simultaneous commitments in the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, North Atlantic, and Caribbean. A ratio acceptable on paper might therefore leave each government believing that a rival could concentrate against its own dispersed forces.
Notable Point · 47:27-48:44
Fleet ratios ignore the geography of imperial commitments
Russia and Britain could cite widely dispersed theatres to argue that formally equal limits would leave them with unequal security.