Why sea power is optional for Russia but essential for maritime powers

Why could Britain or America not force the Soviet Union into a battleship race simply by building more battleships?

Because the Soviet Union could treat sea power as optional offense, while Britain and America depended on it for defense and communications.

Western battleship building could not force the Soviet Union to copy it automatically. The Soviet state remained fundamentally a land power and could choose how much attention to give the sea. Naval strength offered it an additional avenue for offense. For maritime powers such as Britain and the United States, control of sea communications was instead a necessary part of national defense.