WI: Germany launches the first dreadnought?

FBKampfer

Banned
Sorry, I should have made this clear. Admiral Fisher was plastered drunk one night at the bar and was incensed by a couple of people bad mouthing the Royal Navy and the King in heavy French accents. Something to do with elderberries, and the son of a hamster, according to bystanders. Promptly losing this fight, the now concussed admiral decides budgetary constraints don't allow for a ship as expensive as Dreadnought, and her planned construction is delayed two years.

This is Nassau INSTEAD OF Dreadnought, not along with but slightly earlier than Dreadnought.
 

Driftless

Donor
How much of a factor was the idea that once the "all big gun" ships (with their change in fire control, fighting range, updated propulsion, etc) were under construction - by anyone; the race was on regardless of who was first? The appearance of that type of ship rendered so many ships across the world to second or third rate status. Everybody was going to play catch up, for fear of being overwhelmed. Even the Armored Cruisers in the major navies were degraded by comparison - too much money tied up in too much steel and crew for debatable utility.
 
Sorry, I should have made this clear. Admiral Fisher was plastered drunk one night at the bar and was incensed by a couple of people bad mouthing the Royal Navy and the King in heavy French accents. Something to do with elderberries, and the son of a hamster, according to bystanders. Promptly losing this fight, the now concussed admiral decides budgetary constraints don't allow for a ship as expensive as Dreadnought, and her planned construction is delayed two years.

This is Nassau INSTEAD OF Dreadnought, not along with but slightly earlier than Dreadnought.

Dear Squirrel Saints and Hamster Martyrs, simply having him drink lead paint is not enough for you now?

Plus it was not just Fisher keen to build something to keep up with the Joneses, he just decided to jump ahead.
 
Sorry, I should have made this clear. Admiral Fisher was plastered drunk one night at the bar and was incensed by a couple of people bad mouthing the Royal Navy and the King in heavy French accents. Something to do with elderberries, and the son of a hamster, according to bystanders. Promptly losing this fight, the now concussed admiral decides budgetary constraints don't allow for a ship as expensive as Dreadnought, and her planned construction is delayed two years.

This is Nassau INSTEAD OF Dreadnought, not along with but slightly earlier than Dreadnought.
Dreadnought cost 1,783,883. The average cost of the Invincible class was £1,655,197.

The average cost of Lord Nelson and Agamemnon the last British pre-dreadnoughts was £1,541,443 about £250,000 less.

The average cost of the 3 Minotaur class the last British armoured cruisers was £1,396,154 about £250,000 less than the average for the Invincible class.
 
The IJN Satsuma, though completed as a mixed battery ship, was laid down as an All Big Gun design.
We nearly had a Satsuma race instead of the Dreadnought race.

It reminds me of someone saying that if William Shakespeare's plays had really been written by someone else we would have had the Royal Bacon Company.
 

FBKampfer

Banned
Dreadnought cost 1,783,883. The average cost of the Invincible class was £1,655,197.

The average cost of Lord Nelson and Agamemnon the last British pre-dreadnoughts was £1,541,443 about £250,000 less.

The average cost of the 3 Minotaur class the last British armoured cruisers was £1,396,154 about £250,000 less than the average for the Invincible class.

Fine then, decided those damnable French were out to steal the holy grail with their Jeune École thinking and their dastardly submarine fleet, and went bonkers on destroyers to the tune of £1,000,000 leaving insufficient funding for Dreadnought


The practicality of the UK not building Dreadnought in 1906, nor the Germany's slipway capacity, or constrictions of the Kiel Canal are not really the primary point. This isn't an AHC, plausibility check, or planned timeline, purely hypothetical.


Hypothetically, if all of the British government drowned themselves in the Thames and a new government was seemlessly put in place using the combined power of The Force, hippie ideals of free love, and Captain Planet, only this one was hostile to Dreadnought. In her place the government spent £1,800,000 on cruise ships with gun turrets that are only capable of firing confetti and glitter, and then attempt to sink Ireland via ramming, and nothing else happens.

Suppose this happens, what would be the political (ie everyone giving Germany the stink eye) ramifications of Germany lunching the first dreadnought.
 
Last edited:
Fine then, decided those damnable French were out to steal the holy grail with their Jeune École thinking and their dastardly submarine fleet, and went bonkers on destroyers to the tune of £1,000,000 leaving insufficient funding for Dreadnought.
What happens to the Entente Cordiale?

Also the Navy Estimates for 1905-06 were £3.5 million less than the year before and all of the cut seems to have come from cutting new construction.

The 1904-05 Navy Estimates were £36,889,500 including £22,067,000 on Votes 8 and 9
2 Lord Nelson class built
2 Swiftsure class purchased from Chile
3 Minotaur class built
The 1905-06 Navy Estimates were £33,389,500 including £18,399,000 on Votes 8 and 9
1 Dreadnought class built
3 Invincible class built
Vote 8 was Shipbuilding, Repairs, Maintenance, &c: and Vote 9 was Naval Armaments.
 
Top