American pressure behind Japan's Six-Six Fleet

In this interpretation, fear of American annexation helped drive Japan's rapid modernization. The coercive opening of Japan left a lasting memory, and later American expansion into the Philippines reinforced that concern. Russia formed part of the rationale for the Six-Six Fleet, while its numbers also posed a sharper problem for the still-developing US Navy than for the much larger Victorian Royal Navy. Britain's regular warship orders also kept its yards current and ready for a possible war. American power is therefore treated as central to the Japanese plan's strategic logic.