Admiral John Jellicoe's Far East fact-finding work and service in New Zealand helped shape the strategy that emerged in 1924. The 1921 Imperial Conference developed the proposal for a regional fleet base and allowed Dominion leaders to influence it. Naval treaties fixed Britain and the United States at parity while placing Japan below them. British planners feared that defeating Japan would require the United States to expand its fleet beyond Britain's strength and leave it dominant in the Far East. The region was also a growing market, so American dominance would have economic consequences. Mercantilist assumptions about controlling resources and populations made those consequences part of strategic planning.
Chapter · 24:00-28:29
Jellicoe linked the Far East base to imperial consultation
Jellicoe's regional work and the treaty-era balance among Britain, the United States, and Japan made Far East basing both an imperial and an economic problem.