Twelve-gun, 15-inch, 28-knot battleships would force Germany and the United States to respond to British superiority in both calibre and gun numbers. Germany would need comparable heavy guns and triple mountings, while an American answer would face the political difficulty of funding very large designs. The Tillman maximum-battleship studies are symptoms of that wider American funding problem, and postwar isolationist pressure would make a matching programme still harder to sustain. The historical Queen Elizabeth and R classes won the Anglo-German naval race without making the victory look emphatic enough. Ships with unmistakable advantages could have discouraged rivals by making the cost of catching up obvious. A naval or technological race demands a result that opponents can plainly recognize; a small calculated advantage leaves room for dispute.
Chapter · 1:00:31-1:05:56
Why naval superiority had to look unmistakable
The closing argument calls for a visibly decisive British lead over Germany that would discourage further naval competition.