German navy laws and the cost of capital ships

Tirpitz's naval programme fixed the number of battleships and limited the freedom to trade quantity against the quality or cost of individual ships. As dreadnoughts became more expensive, the resulting fiscal pressure appeared in cuts to personnel and other non-procurement spending. Friedman also points to inadequate torpedoes as one operational consequence. A photograph of Westfalen introduces the Nassau class, whose 11-inch guns held down ship size and cost when contemporary British and other foreign battleships carried 12-inch weapons.