 To that end, he called for the Japanese Navy to maintain a fleet with at least 70% as many capital ships as the US Navy.This ratio, Satō theorized, would enable the Imperial Japanese Navy to defeat the US Navy in one major battle in Japanese waters in any eventual conflict.Accordingly, the 1907 Imperial Defense Policy called for the construction of a battle fleet of eight modern battleships, each, and eight modern armored cruisers, each.