Germany faced a strategic problem in 1905: some of its naval officers understood that they were unlikely to win a capital-ship construction race with Britain. A specialist minelayer that could protect itself against light threats and escape heavier ones offered a different kind of leverage. It could rapidly obstruct the Danish straits, German coastal approaches, or routes an enemy fleet was expected to use. Its value lay in denying movement and buying time rather than defeating the Royal Navy gun-for-gun.
Chapter · 0:29-2:50
A minelayer as an answer to naval inferiority
The Nautilus class offered Germany a way to threaten routes and chokepoints without trying to outbuild the Royal Navy.