The North Sea and Atlantic blockade scenarios did not demand the same fleet train as a Pacific campaign. Flower-class corvettes and other antisubmarine measures answered the immediate German threat. Fast-oiler expansion could be sequenced later in a plan that expected more warning before a Far Eastern war. The 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement's 35-percent ceiling was also intended to buy rearmament time while Britain expanded a fleet able to deter Japan. The tension was not ignorance of logistics but prioritization among incompatible risks for scarce yards, engines, boilers, and money.
Notable Point · 2:08:20-2:15:19
A German war prioritized different ships
British rearmament had to prioritize escorts and anti-submarine capacity for a German war before it could complete a Far Eastern logistics programme.