Japan needed shipbuilding infrastructure before a larger fleet

What Japanese naval building plan could meet strategic needs without breaking the country financially?

Build shipyard and support infrastructure first, then expand the balanced fleet that the strategy requires.

Deleting one ship type would not solve Japan's fiscal problem. The Imperial Japanese Navy needed carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers for the strategy it was pursuing. Its sharper constraint was the industrial infrastructure needed to build, maintain, and support those forces at the intended pace. Investment in yards, docks, and supporting systems therefore had to precede the fleet program. Japan possessed much of the technical knowledge but repeatedly asked an inadequate base to deliver too many advanced ships.