The ‘rivalry’ between the British and German Navies before, during and after the coming of Dreadnought was centered around numbers. It had never been a ‘level’ playing field’. The numbers advantage always lay with Britain. The threat to Britain’s naval superiority was never realistic. We simply outbuilt the Germans.

The Naval Defence Act of 1889 specified a ‘two power’ standard by law. This laid down that the British Navy had to maintain a Navy that was bigger by far than the combined strength of the two largest navies in the world. As a consequence, work began on the construction of ten new Dreadnought battleships that would outclass any other – anywhere, plus forty two new battle cruisers.

Yes, deterrence was the name of the game but, it was a deterrence that already existed because of the size of the British Navy and was enhanced by the building of the Dreadnought class of battleships started in 1905.

Britain entered the war in 1914 with a Home Fleet of twenty two super Dreadnoughts, fourteen battlecruisers, twenty two pre-Dreadnoughts and 160 cruisers and destroyers. All of this a necessary consequence of the naval arms race between Britain and Germany which ended when Germany ceased to compete.