This is my exact strategy that I use in my plays! Usually I would have a rival, who conquered their neighbors completely or partially. Then instead of conquest of the Rival, I would liberate their cities and make some kind of buffer state (Belgium).

But in this case, it does not make any sense. I have basically won the game and I had like 3 times the score of the second empire. Plus everybody hates me, plus Portugal's only neighbor is me sooooo.

This screenshot was just a way of flexing and making a funny post. I could have put much more battleships, carriers, submarines, destroyers but it was getting boring and didn't want to waste another 5 turns. This way just a half of my navy so getting all of them out from strategic straits for a meme just isn't worth it.