Britain's enormous aggregate fleet looks less dominant once its mix of ship types is compared with Italy's. Italy still has more battleships and heavy cruisers, while Britain has more battlecruisers, many of them used as super-heavy cruisers rather than direct battleship substitutes. Britain also leads in submarines and destroyers, although the destroyer margin is smaller than desired, and it trails badly in light cruisers. The comparison makes light cruisers and battleships the next construction priorities. Headline fleet size matters less than having the types needed for the fleet's intended roles.
Notable Point · 1:00:52-1:01:54
Fleet size versus force structure
A comparison with Italy shows that even a very large fleet can have shortages in the ship types needed for its intended missions.