Dreadnought carried a strategic message beyond its value as a new battleship. Critics such as Beresford preferred the Royal Navy's older method of waiting for another power to reveal a design and then building a superior answer. Fisher chose to lead, accepting the risk that an early design would expose choices others could improve. Getting the ship into service first would advertise that Britain could redefine the standard and sustain the industrial race that followed.
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Dreadnought as a first-mover deterrent signal
Fisher rejected the safer practice of waiting for another navy's design and chose to make Dreadnought the ship that set a new standard.