Global operations made the availability of graving docks a force-design issue: building a more powerful ship mattered less if it could not be repaired where the fleet needed it. The Washington treaty system constrained improvements to overseas bases as well as warship design. The interruption of the Royal Navy's post-First World War expansion left facilities planned before 1914 unusually influential for later generations. Plans for G3, N3, and Incomparable illustrate the tension between immediate ship requirements and a longer-term expansion of dock capacity.
Chapter · 10:28-14:21
Worldwide basing versus larger warships
The Royal Navy had to balance ships powerful enough for opponents against the docks that could support them across the Empire.