Tillman's foreign threats serve his procurement goals

Was Tillman's naval policy chiefly directed against Britain?

He invoked Britain or Japan according to which threat would help him obtain the construction he wanted.

Tillman could present Britain as the main naval threat when that argument helped secure a particular construction program. He could use Japan in the same way with a different audience. His preferred ships and political interests are therefore more reliable guides to this counterfactual than an assumption that he had one fixed foreign enemy.