HMS Mary Rose and HMS Strongbow were not equipped to fight two light cruisers, yet British destroyers were already needed for other fleet tasks. Beatty's command had assigned eight destroyers to convoy duty and retained others for the Grand Fleet, revealing a broader shortage of light cruisers and destroyers. The escort commanders were not told that German warships were thought to be at sea on a minelaying operation. British forces were still developing the distant and close escort arrangements used more systematically in the Second World War, and the 17 October 1917 convoy sailed without enough combat power close at hand.
Chapter · 25:29-28:32
The Scandinavian convoy's escort problem
The 1917 convoy action exposed the shortage of suitable escorts and the difficulty of allocating destroyers between merchant protection and Grand Fleet duties.