From the Six-Six Fleet Plan to the Maya class

The Maya class echoes Imperial Japan's late-nineteenth-century procurement strategy. Japan could not match the Royal Navy ship for ship, so the Six-Six Fleet Plan made each hull count by commissioning improved versions of proven British designs. Mikasa was based largely on the Formidable class, but eight ships built to her standard would have cost roughly as much as 10.49 Formidables. Britain needed the extra hulls for worldwide commitments, while Japan could concentrate a smaller fleet on local defense. A costly refinement could therefore be rational for Japan and uneconomic for a navy buying a large class.