ABSTRACT
Following the end of the First World War, the Royal Navy (RN) was the world’s most powerful naval force. It led in most areas of important technological innovation and modern ship numbers; its combat experience in the new environments of air and underwater warfare was unsurpassed; problems of manning and manpower management had been handled with efficiency during the unprecedented expansion of the force during the war. A web of naval bases and shore installations, supported by the world’s most advanced communications network, created an unsurpassed global supply, repair and replenishment system able to sustain RN operations anywhere at anytime. The intelligence system, which directed the positioning of both fleets and individual units, was one of the most advanced in the world, gleaning information from human, cable and radio sources; and, finally, doctrinal and training methods, while not always recognized as such, were the most advanced in the world. 1 Therefore, from a purely naval point of view, the strategic situation regarding the RN’s utility as a tool of empire seemed to rival that of the glory days of the years immediately following 1815: global supremacy.
