British fears were unwarranted.Cornel
The French Navy was larger than the German at the time of the war. Let alone during the buildup.When war broke out France had 12 effective predreadnoughts, 5 semidreadnoughts, 4 dreadnoughts with another 8 building (only 3 would be completed)
Germany had 15 effective predreadnoughts, 19 dreadnoughts with another 8 building (7 would be completed)
Germany had practically zero navy in 1870, and even by 30 years later was far inferior to even Russia.in 1870 Turkey was a major naval power. 30 years later the Turkish Navy was about 3 ships that had actually been in service back than.
And yes in 1900, the German Navy about the a same size as the US Navy. But that was when both those Navies began expansion. (1908 Great White Fleet ring any bells?)
That they would ally with France to protect their naval supremacy is bizarre, they had just spent close to 30 years battling them to reach naval supremacy in the first place."Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests." - Lord Palmerston (England's Greatest Prime Minister)
Yes England had spent 30 years maintaining the Two-Power Standard (effectively a Navy equal to the combined strenght of France and Russia). It could do so by its ability to design and build ships. But unlike the French, German yards could turn out a ship almost as fast as British ones. So Germany was now the contender.
And an opportunity arose. From 1902 to 1905 France had an anti-navy Minister of the Navy, who cancelled both ship building and modernisation (France would not lay down a single battleship between 1902 and 1907). So by 1905 France was not only no longer a naval threat, they were looking for a new best friend who would look kindly on France's colonial operations. And in 1904/5 the Russia Navy was also removed from consideration.
Leading to a change in British naval policy from "Two-Power" to "Germany +60%".
Germany needed a navy in the Baltic to control the straits and protect their shores.I LOL'd. Germany needed a Navy two-third's the size of the every Ocean Royal Navy to control the Baltic?
“And yes in 1900, the German Navy about the a same size as the US Navy”
Which is germane to the discussion, how? Germany had a long way to modernize their fleet to even approach the size of the Royal Navy.
Even their most ambitious plans left them at best with 60 percent of the total of the Royal Navy. Navy in size, that would be approximately the size of France.
Navy sufficient to defend the Baltic from the British, something that they were actually incapable of doing, as the British were capable of shipping into the Baltic despite the Germany navy.
That also doesn’t mention the Russian navy stationed at Petrograd.
So yeah, the British had the better quality and the more advanced ships, and were concerned about a power with roughly half of their tonnage, and no greater than that of the other powers?
I can understand why Britain would be concerned with the large build up and modernization, which is what spurred Britain to do the same. However, at no point of the process did the German navy come even close to superceding that of Britain. As the Germans had no attempt to even leave the Baltic to engage the British, I can only surmise that as large as the German fleet at the time, they were insufficient to pose a danger to the size of the British fleet.
Churchill himself, as secretary of the Navy draws the same conclusions.