India's navy as security and nation-building

India needed naval power for its long coastlines, trade, and central position in the Indian Ocean. A navy could also mix communities aboard ship and help develop institutions for an anticipated future nation-state. Regiments rooted in particular places could retain divisions that mixed ship crews brought into daily contact. Naval technical work offered capable people from lower and lower-middle-class backgrounds opportunities to rise within the service and society. Safe seamanship and machinery operation demanded competence regardless of noble birth. Indian political representatives and the Royal Navy could support expansion even when career administrators preferred to spend the money elsewhere. Naval development therefore depended on both strategic requirements and competing priorities within the imperial administration.