The qualitative arms race did not create self-contained national industries. Parsons supplied machinery used in German battlecruisers even as Britain and Germany competed at sea. War cut off the flow of replacement parts, contributing to availability problems as the conflict continued. In a peace extended to 1920, that commercial dependency would keep technology moving while also leaving a strategic vulnerability if relations collapsed.
Notable Point · 1:57:10-1:57:58
German battlecruisers depended on British machinery
The prewar technology network left German battlecruisers reliant on Parsons machinery and vulnerable to wartime spare-parts shortages.