Larger dreadnoughts force an earlier dockyard expansion

Larger ships require docks, yards, and surrounding urban land to grow around the new hulls. The period's governments possessed the political power to clear space and enlarge naval facilities on a scale that would be difficult later. Starting from a larger baseline makes the empire-wide infrastructure expansion more ambitious. Repeated British caliber increases also intensify German financial pressure and could shift German resources back toward the army before the historical end of the naval competition.