The 1908 table shows Britain with the most dreadnoughts in service and Germany with the most under construction, while the United States continued its own program. Those fleet totals separate warships ordered by a navy from the larger capacity of its national shipbuilding industry. Brazilian dreadnoughts counted in Brazil's program but were being built in British yards. Britain could accept those orders when the perceived threat did not demand every yard for the Royal Navy, keeping skills and facilities active above domestic peacetime demand. That reserve of capacity could then support an emergency building program. American efforts to secure Argentine, Chilean, Brazilian, Greek, and Ottoman contracts show that export competition was also a struggle over future naval industrial mobilization.
Notable Point · 23:29-25:49
Foreign dreadnought orders preserve surge capacity
British-built Brazilian dreadnoughts show how export orders kept shipyards active and preserved capacity for a later emergency program.