Troubridge's economic route to fleet battle

As chief of the War Staff, Ernest Troubridge developed a plan that critics judged unsound in the 1912 manoeuvres. The plan can be understood as a response to real logistical and infrastructure limits rather than simple passivity. He wanted attacks on German trade to provoke public demands for relief and induce the German fleet to leave protected waters. The strategy was offensive in purpose and defensive in method: neutralizing the German fleet would protect Britain, overseas supply, and the national economy. Its political weakness lay partly in Troubridge's failure to explain it persuasively to officers who preferred élan or distrusted Britain's traditional reliance on economic warfare.