Designers increased dreadnought combat power by adding guns or enlarging their calibre. Smaller powers could field individually formidable ships that made intervention expensive even when outright victory in a fleet war was unlikely. A qualitative contest could sustain mutual deterrence because one side trusted its larger guns while the other trusted greater numbers. Tirpitz's effort to challenge British numerical superiority directly created a more dangerous contest. The strategic question is how a design changes the cost and credibility of a rival's choices.
Chapter · 39:25-44:34
Big guns, numbers, and deterrence
More guns or larger guns could offset numerical weakness, but qualitative competition could stabilise deterrence unless it became an attempt to match a rival ship for ship.