Geography mattered through base locations and through continued access to resources, buyers, and suppliers. Britain and the United States faced a different Pacific-war risk from Japan. Britain could lose Chinese markets while retaining Atlantic, American, African, and European trade, and the United States remained connected to a continental industrial base. Japan risked immediate economic isolation from many external resources needed for its war effort. Protecting commercial routes was therefore part of naval sustainment rather than a separate economic question.
Notable Point · 1:06:22-1:08:00
Trade routes define strategic endurance
A navy's endurance depended on continued access to markets, suppliers, and resource routes as well as operational bases.