Suez draft and coaling limit European reinforcements

Yamamoto treated geography and infrastructure as limits on the European force Japan might face. The Suez Canal was only about eight meters deep, close to the draft of Britain's Majestic class, so a fully stored battleship could not comfortably transit. British crews might still lighten a ship by removing stores and sending them separately, but the maneuver added risk and preparation. Going around the Cape of Good Hope instead demanded a global coaling network. Britain possessed such stations, France was a distant second, and Russia might depend on French help, making logistics central to Japan's strategic estimate.