A rival's announced naval programme does not fix the eventual balance if Britain continues building in response. The British fleet was still expanding while German construction had paused and American building proceeded slowly. The Queen Elizabeth generation of 15-inch-gun battleships supplies the example of a growing technological gap. The counterfactual is that, without war, further British construction would continue to widen that gap. The economic argument links the cost of naval security to the commercial position it protects. In this account, economic primacy pays for maritime security, while deterrence is cheaper than fighting a war.
Chapter · 1:30:42-1:33:06
British fleet building and the cost of deterrence
Continued British construction challenges the assumption that a German naval programme could develop against a stationary opponent.