India's missed transition from teak ships to steel warships

Indian teak-built ships were renowned for strength, and their yards were technically comparable with British establishments in the sailing era. In this assessment, the failure to modernise them was a major strategic mistake. Regular construction of sloops, destroyers, and merchant ships could have preserved skills, stimulated steel production, and enabled a much larger wartime Royal Indian Navy escort force. Such a force might also have added ships and anti-aircraft fire around Force Z, giving the missed industrial base a direct operational consequence. The existing industrial and administrative base made this a question of investment and priorities rather than innate capacity.