Roskill connects the replacement of the Anglo-Japanese alliance with Britain's weaker position in the western Pacific. Financial pressure then affected both replacement ships and the bases needed to support them. In his assessment, base equipment and defences received inadequate attention when even shipbuilding funds were difficult to obtain. Political hesitation slowed work at Singapore, while Britain could not provide the permanent Far Eastern fleet its position required. Richmond's image of a sentry box without a sentry captures the difference between building a base and supplying the force that would use it.
Notable Point · 1:41:11-1:43:25
Singapore's naval base needed a fleet and sustained funding
Singapore illustrates the gap between constructing naval facilities and maintaining the fleet needed to make them effective.