Foreign stations as a Royal Navy knowledge network

Royal Navy officers rotated between foreign stations and the Home, Channel, or Mediterranean fleets instead of serving in isolated geographic silos. Fisher's repeated China and North America and West Indies appointments exemplify that personnel system. Returning officers circulated local experience through the fleet, while later appointments could make use of their accumulated regional knowledge. A mobilizing squadron was likely to include at least some officers already familiar with its destination instead of deploying entirely cold.