Malta supports the Royal Navy's largest ships

Malta's Grand Harbour functioned as a dockyard on an unusually large scale and remained useful to successive major navies in the Mediterranean. Its facilities were among the relatively few overseas docks able to support the Royal Navy's largest ships. HMS Hood is the test case because very few yards could accommodate the fleet's largest and most prestigious ship. Malta therefore widened the operations available to British capital ships instead of serving merely as a convenient port call.