The headline ratio becomes a deployment problem if Britain uses 40,000-ton capital ships and fits twenty-one within its allowance. That permits three groups of seven for home waters, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean. In the Mediterranean, eight Italian ships would outnumber the local British group by one, yet even four French ships would reverse the local balance. Japan could concentrate fourteen ships against seven British vessels in the Indian Ocean, but doing so would expose its other flank to a possible American force of ten in the Pacific. Interlocking regional commitments can therefore deter aggression even when no single navy is superior everywhere.
Notable Point · 59:34-1:01:12
How a three-theatre Royal Navy constrains rival concentration
Distributing twenty-one British ships among home, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean forces creates local vulnerabilities, but rival concentration exposes another theatre to coalition response.