London's marine-insurance interests helped make secure trade valuable because piracy threatened both shipping and the investors underwriting it. The Royal Navy nevertheless defined its practical role as deterrence because it lacked enough ships to protect every merchant movement. A mid-1930s estimate said comprehensive prevention would require a convoy system, roughly triple the station's sloops, and double its light cruisers. A deterrent presence required far fewer ships than continuous protection across the enormous theater.
Notable Point · 16:04-16:50
Royal Navy deterrence and the cost of full protection
The China Station could deter pirates, but completely preventing attacks would have required convoys and a much larger cruiser-and-sloop force.