German planning did not test British restraint

The German command could have used war games and fleet exercises to ask what would happen if Britain refused the expected close battle. Instead, public British claims about offensive naval tradition were treated as policy rather than possible political signaling. Scheer's postwar account therefore reveals a deep misunderstanding of British choices, even allowing for its self-justifying purpose. The inability to imagine defeat before Jutland helps explain the later change in German thinking about submarine warfare.