Quality had to include the ability to build enough ships

Japanese strategic thinking expected numerical inferiority and sought compensation through technology, ship quality and training. A comparison with modern Western and NATO thinking questions how far technological superiority can substitute for numbers. The illustration contrasts pursuing a 100 percent technological standard with accepting 80 percent and building many more ships. A superior system loses some of its advantage if it takes three times as long to build and makes ordering, training and organisation twice as demanding. Fletcher and British War Emergency destroyers illustrate the case for capable ships designed for production in quantity. The percentages and multipliers illustrate the tradeoff rather than measure national production performance.