Since Germany announced its unrestricted submarine warfare at the end of last year, it has lost 200,000 tons of merchant ships this year alone (including being sunk by enemy submarines and surface ships and sinking by mines.:.The previous month's maximum loss was more than 3., and by February, the total losses had risen further.:In addition, a considerable number of ships were damaged and urgently needed to be repaired.

In the past two months, 20 out of every 100 merchant ships leaving the British port have never returned, and the valuable supplies loaded on these ships have been lost, and if this continues, there will be a major shortage of British capacity to meet the domestic demand for various strategic materials.

The British leadership, including Churchill, felt the pressure.

In addition to hoping that the US merchant fleet, which is the second largest in the world in terms of gross tonnage, would be able to replace the lost capacity of the British side as soon as possible, Churchill planned to urge the United States to send a small fleet of ships to assist Britain in conducting anti-submarine warfare.

After the Battle of Lingayen, the Allies lost their naval supremacy in the western Pacific and even the Indian Ocean, and India and Australia were exposed to the advancing East Asian coalition forces.

Churchill understood that defending two important places in opposite directions at the same time was far beyond the capacity of the British Empire – no, even after a heavy blow to the Ocean Fleet, Britain alone could not ensure that either could be lost.

Although through a miraculous air sneak attack, the Ocean Fleet 15 dreadnoughts were >.) + Sunk and damaged, and also blew up 2 dreadnoughts under construction, with German ship repair capabilities. It is estimated that the heavy damage in the port can be repaired within half a year, and as for the 6 ships sunk, the bottom 4 may be able to be repaired within a year, and according to the German shipbuilding information summarized by various parties, it is estimated that 2 battleships and 3 battlecruisers can be completed within this year. That is, by the beginning of the war in 1916, the German oceanic fleet could be restored to the level of 15 dreadnought battleships and 3 battlecruisers.

Based on this premise, out of the 27 existing dreadnought battleships of the British Grand Fleet, 10 were drawn from other theaters, and 9 battle cruisers could only be drawn out of a maximum of 4,17 battleships and 5++.