A US ten-and-ten battleship program in the 1890s

What happens if the US Navy builds ten fleet battleships and ten coastal battleships in the 1890s?

The reply predicts that a large 1890s appropriation would make Congress reluctant to fund the next generation, delaying a response to dreadnoughts.

The hypothetical gives the US Navy ten fleet battleships and ten coastal battleships in the 1890s. The reply concentrates on the timing of congressional funding. It imagines the initial expansion being used as a reason to deny ships in the following decade. In that scenario, debate over responding to dreadnoughts could continue until about 1920. The lesson concerns the replacement cycle of a fleet bought in one large burst; it is a speculative budget response rather than an account of an actual congressional decision.