Why Germany still builds Nassau — Bruships 161: All you need are Kallax, Shelves are all Books… at 11:27

Why Germany still builds Nassau

Replacing HMS Dreadnought with another early British all-big-gun design would not greatly alter Germany's first response, because Nassau emerged from German requirements rather than one British silhouette.

Question

Would Germany build a different first dreadnought if Britain introduced a Lord Nelson-like or otherwise altered early dreadnought?

Short answer

Probably not: Germany still builds something close to Nassau unless Britain makes a much larger Orion-scale leap.

Notes

Britain's first dreadnought had symbolic importance, but Germany's own design pressures shaped the Nassau class. A modestly different British ship would still leave Germany building broadly the same first-generation dreadnought. Only a much larger jump, such as Britain producing an Orion-like super-dreadnought early, would force a substantially different response. Naval arms races were constrained by national design systems as well as foreign examples.