Britain's wartime oil problem was tanker capacity

Claims that the Royal Navy nearly exhausted its oil during the First World War do not match the reserve record described here. The most pessimistic forecast anticipated reserves falling to about four months, but remedial action kept the actual reserve generally above six months in the British Isles. The central constraint was moving oil: supply and demand existed, while tanker tonnage and distribution capacity lagged. The same transport problem explains the Navy's later concern with British-controlled tankers, storage, and fleet oilers.