Most navies underinvest in unshowy escort hulls

The projection doubts whether Congress would fund enough escort destroyers or dedicated escorts before a major war. Its critique is that a narrow reading of Mahan emphasises capital ships and the battle fleet while overlooking the wider requirements addressed by Mahan and Corbett. A Lord of the Rings film analogy compares this to casting the principal and secondary roles but providing no extras for the Rohirrim's mass cavalry charge. Britain is expected to respond differently because memories of First World War merchant losses sustain investment in trade protection. Japan is judged to need escorts, but simultaneous battleship, carrier and cruiser programmes would consume the industrial capacity to build them. The Soviet Union is also expected to neglect escorts, while Germany would rely mainly on small craft such as Schnellboote and perhaps R-boats. France and Italy face limited capacity and place less weight on global trade than Britain in this interpretation.