Singapore was not meant to be the fleet's permanent fighting position. It was a place to collect fuel, stores, maintenance capacity, and repair infrastructure for a whole theater. Fighting forces were expected to move forward while damaged ships and bulk supplies moved through this rearward hub. That strategic logic is separate from the failure to defend the base adequately.
Chapter · 19:44-21:50
Singapore as a theater logistics hub
Singapore made sense as a Far Eastern maintenance and logistics hub, though its inadequate defence weakened the wider strategy.