03 – A Naval Arms Race

To counter the potential threat from Germany, Admiral Jackie Fisher was appointed as First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty in 1904.

He overhauled the fleet and introduced the battleship HMS Dreadnought. Her combination of speed, guns and armour made all previous battleships obsolete. By using standardized components she was able to be completed in a year and a day.

HMS Dreadnought – 1906

Navies around the world all wanted dreadnoughts – the US, Japan, Italy Turkey, Brazil, Chile, Russia and of course Germany, who realised that if a dreadnought could be built in a year, they had a chance to reach Tirpitz’s goal of a navy 60% of the size of the Royal Navy.

Germany commenced an ambitious ship-building programme, and the Admiralty pressed on to maintain the Royal Navy’s 2:1 advantage over any other navy – we had coal, steel and money from the empire.

Dreadnought’s all-big-guns design meant that there was no confusion over shell splashes from mixed-calibre guns. This improved the accuracy of gun-laying.

SMS Friedrich der Grosse – 1910

You can read more about the evolution of naval warfare HERE