German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes - British Naval ...

one” became the slogan of the British naval armament. An arms race with
Germany commenced.
Tirpitz gave the axiom a different twist. As long as the Imperial Navy counted
for at least two-thirds of British assets, Germany could hope to make it too
dangerous for Britain to enter into a war against her. Thus, risk-theory was born. On
the other hand, should Britain enter into a conflict with America, Russia or France
then Germany would become a valuable ally or, at least, an ‘honest broker.’ Britain
moved to checkmate what was perceived to be a strategic danger by looking for -
and finding - agreements with her traditional enemy, France, in 1905 and with
Russia in 1908. In this fashion the competing coalitions of the Great War began to
take shape.
Table 2: The World Navies 1914 in Mio. BRT 17
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17 Nauticus, 1914, pp. 638 passim, numbers for 15 May 1914.
18 Lambert, Fisher’s Revolution, p. 136.
19 Nauticus, 1914, pp. 638 passim, numbers for 15 May 1914.
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In 1905, the British Dreadnought design made conventional battleships
obsolete. The Admiralty in 1907 opined, “... with the introduction of the Dreadnoughts – a
leap forward of 200% in fighting power has been effected.” 18 Britain had a naval advantage
and held on to it. In May, 1914 Germany’s battle force – the High Seas Fleet –
deployed seventeen dreadnoughts. Great Britain had a fleet of twenty-eight of the
class. 19 At the Battle of Jutland sixteen German dreadnoughts faced them all. The
Royal Navy in May, 1914 had warships of over 2.2 million BRT in service,
Germany deployed less than half that, around one million BRT.
Britain set up a merchant blockade that stretched from Scotland across to
Norway using older cruisers, effectively cutting off Germany from world trade.
Conversely, for the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet an advance into the mine, torpedo
boat and submarine-infested German Bight was too risky. They could do nothing
except wait for the Germans to venture out. Said Lord Beresford ruefully in 1914:
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