Royal Navy strategy in the Far East, 1919-1939 : preparing for war against Japan
"Between the ending of the Great War and the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Royal Navy remained the largest naval force in the world. But with the League of Nations seeming to offer a solution to all future conflicts, a country weary of war and without an obvious enemy, there seemed no need for a large battlefleet. The strategic focus then shifted eastwards, towards Japan, with its growing battlefleet, as the new threat to the British Empire and to the Royal Navy's maritime supremacy." "From 1924 on, a strategic plan, War Memorandum (Eastern), was refined. This called for the Royal Navy, still the largest in the world even after the 1922 Washington Naval Treaties, to move eastwards to a defended base in Singapore and cut off Japan and force its battlefleet into a decisive battle." "This was not to be another Jutland - as the book explains, new tactics were developed, with aircraft and submarines playing an important part, alongside the battlefleet to ensure victory. The effects that developing such a strategy had on virtually all aspects of naval thinking during the interwar period are also considered. It was impossible to have a fleet permanently based at Singapore, so the strategy had to encompass not only the logistics of sending and maintaining a fleet to the Far East but also how best to use it to destroy the Japanese fleet." "As a strategy, War Memorandum (Eastern) had many flaws - its real importance lay in the fact that it provided a justification for the Royal Navy to maintain its leading position in the world and to be in the forefront of the development of new tactical thinking. Through planning for a war with Japan, the Royal Navy was able to test its readiness for a future war. Many of the lessons it learnt in this period were ultimately put to good used against a different foe after 1939"--Jacket
Print Book, English, 2004
Frank Cass, London, 2004