Caoster I said that building a battle fleet beyond what was needed to contest the North and Baltic Sea is pointless and wasteful. Germany only needs enough battleships to force Britain to employ battleships of her own, and not let Britain enforce a close blockade with cruisers or other cost effective vessels.
Athelstane Germany *did* have cause to develop its heretofore neglected navy by the 1890's. The question was: what kind of navy was suited to its national interests?
Wiking One that would prevent an economy collapsing close blockade.
This exchange hits the mark. Germany was a land power facing a coalition led by the wolrd’s only true seapower. As a landpower, Germany’s navy had two functions. First, to ease the consequences of the blockade so that the Central Powers’ economies could maximize their land power and systematically eliminate their continental rivals, one by one, until it was England alone. Second, to force the Entente to allocate disproportionate resources to maintaining its sea communications. If the entire Germany navy was destroyed, but achieved these ends, then it would have been a resounding strategic success - challenging the RN in direct battle would be a completely worthless endeavor, entirely counterproductive to the main duty of blockade running and resource diversion.
The core principle behind a navy designed to contest the blockade is the concept of strategic raw materials – things where if even a little is imported it has a large effect of negating the blockade, such as nitrates. A navy designed for blockade contest sacrifices armor and armament to achieve endurance and higher speed. A German dreadnought would have sufficient range to enter the Atlantic and return to Germany without fueling, it would a couple knots faster than its British counterparts, it would have a lighter main armament capable of dealing with British armored cruisers or battlecruisers, but not a dreadnought 1:1, and it’s armor protection would be inferior to actual HSF designs. It would have oil/coal fuel (so that it could refuel at sea), it would be supported by a robust logistics network of supply ships and infrastructure, (the HSF would need to bunker at least a million tons of oil for wartime ops). The German merchant marine needs ships with 16-18kt speed to run the blockade, and significant armament to fight off AMC's or light cruisers. Legally, Germany wanted East Indiamen (a heavily armed merchant ship that was recognised as a merchant ship by neutral powers) in the Hague conventions so that it could bust through the blockade, even with merchant ships unsupported by warships.