How German speed could impose British costs

What if Germany pursued 26-knot fast battleships before the First World War?

Britain would build equivalents, but Germany could impose an outsized cost because the Royal Navy had to modernize and cover a much larger fleet.

The strategic value lies less in matching British numbers than in forcing a qualitative response across the British fleet. A handful of German ships could require more British ships to be ready and deployed over a wider area. This resembles the burden imposed by German fast capital ships in the North Atlantic during the Second World War.