Are people realy asking how the British fleet was a danger to Germany that needed to be countered? Really?
Ok how about this. Germany LOST WW1 its empire and it emperer because of the Royal Navy. You can blame anything else you want but the Royal Navy is the single biggest factor. Its blockade destroyed the economy and starved the heck out of Germany, And it eliminated any chance of Germany keeping an ok relationship with the US and eliminated any dealing with South America.
So if anything WW1 indicastes that Germany needed a bigger fleet then it built.
And yes most empires are not exactly nice. But in a lot of the books and shows on WW1 (often created by or with “advice from”. Britons, GB is often portrayed as the sweet inocent country that got dragged into the war against the evil empire when it dastardly invaded poor little Belgem.
And that the Nasty Wasty Germens were building up a huge war fleet soly in order to attack the Innocent BG because what other possible reason would Germany have to build a fleet when GB was making the oceans of the world safe for comerce.
Well go ask the Boars how nice those folks from GB were….
And yes a lot of other countries have done just as bad but the pretence that WW1 was 100% Germanys fault is rediculus. And the idea that GB was making the world safe for democracy against the evil dictatorship of Germany is even more rediculas.
And while the fleet build up was a large reason GB wanted to go to war the reality is GB thought that with its blockade and with the French and Russians that the war would end in there favor and soon so they wanted to stick their fingers into the ontental pie when it was time to shuffle the boarders. It didnt work out so well for them. But the truth is pretty much every government in WW1 got what it deserved to one degree or another. And only the citesens who were sold a bill of goods are truly innocent in that mess. Even the US was frankly getting involved not because Germany was evil and needed to be defeated (a VERY valid argument in the next world war) but because it was good for a bunch of big businesses and rich folk. And Frankly of the major powers the US was probably closest to being innocent in that ware, and they wernt inocent at all so go figure.
France no more cared about some pissant Balkan state then it cared about Napa Vally Vinyards. But it was a great chance yo get even for the
last time Germany invaded. AH was more interested in using the death of its royals as an escuse to go to war. Russia was trying to gain influance in the Balkans and at the same time avoid or head off internal problems (kind if like an unhapoy couple having a kid to save a marriage) And so on and so forth. And this was not the first ytime any of these counties tried this kind of thing, So there were no virgins in that bed. But GB does a very good (and very annoying ) job of pretending that they were the inocent party just put yo protect the world. Hell the US dosent do as good a job selling its participation in WW2 as GB does with WW1.
I agree with a lot of your points re the practicalities of Navies and GB's issues with naval challenges not being 100% righteous (although as pointed out earlier a German defensive fleet to stop the RN from blockading it would have looked somewhat different to the one they built)
But if GB saw such a golden opportunity for them by going to war why was it they were leading attempts to broker a peace deal and conference before it all kicks off?
Yes because Germany and AH dominating Europe is not what's best for GB, but it also not what's best for lot of other people as well. This doesn't make the British inherently noble here, but it doesn't make them what you describe either.So no matter what Germany does (short of complete surrender) GB is still going alie with Russia and France and when it comes to entering WW1 GB will do whatever it tginks is best for GB.
And fleet or no fleet anything Germany does is hpgoing to have little effect.
Not invading Belgium, not giving AH carte blanche, Germany has plenty of options here other than surrender
Only in abstract what doe British actually gain by going on a aggressive war against Germany? It doesn't help them with any of their goals really. This whole Germany best declare war before Britain declares war is pretty oddIf anything the weaker Germany is the more likly GB is to go to war as they were looking at thecpolitical opritunities and costs not if Germany was evil or whatever.
There seems to be a temptation to "both sides" WW1 simply because Germany wasn't controlled by the Nazis as per WW2, but the reality is AH drove and Germany enabled the situation, Pretty much every other major power reacts to them doing so.