Japan was regarded as Britain's principal Far Eastern threat, yet London deliberately limited its regional forces to avoid making its position look threatening. Singapore still received a completed naval base and coastal artillery by 1938. All but the 15-inch guns could traverse toward the island's landward approaches as well as the sea. The larger weakness lay in troops and aircraft that stayed in Britain or went to the Middle East, so the familiar picture of useless seaward guns misses the combined land-and-air shortfall.
Notable Point · 8:12-8:59
Singapore's deliberate restraint and landward coastal guns
Britain limited Singapore's forces to avoid alarming Japan, while troops and aircraft remained a larger weakness than the coastal guns.