<P> The First Naval Act passed in March 1898 after an extensive lobbying and public relations campaign led by Wilhelm, Tirpitz, and Bülow . The act funded the building of eleven battleships in the next seven years . Britain had little concern about the First Naval Act as Germany's navy would not be larger than the existing two largest navies, so would not trigger any new measures under the "two - navy standard ." However, by November 1898 Tirpitz had begun work on a plan to double the fleet to include forty - five battleships and armored cruisers, which he presented to the Kaiser in September 1899 . The timing was fortuitous as the eruption of the Second Boer War and British seizure of a German steamer off southern Africa enraged the German public against Britain; the Reichstag passed the Second Navy Law in June 1900 . </P> <P> The passage of the Second Naval Act in Germany increased worry among British policymakers . In 1902, First Lord of the Admiralty Selborne, Tirpitz's British counterpart, told his fellow Cabinet members that the German navy was being built with an eye for war with Britain . Selborne was succeeded as First Sea Lord in 1904 by Jacky Fisher, who massively reorganized the Royal Navy by bringing most of Britain's navy force close to the home isles . He also set up a committee to design a new super battleship, which especially in the wake of the May 1905 Battle of Tsushima seemed to be the future of naval warfare . The HMS Dreadnought was launched in February 1906, just 14 months after being approved . Jane's Fighting Ships noted that the HMS Dreadnought was equivalent to two or three normal battleships . </P> <P> In the beginning of 1905, the German naval attache in Britain reported to Tirpitz that the British were planning a new class of battleship . That summer, Tirpitz consulted with his advisers; by autumn, he had decided that Germany would match the British naval building plan . Scholars highlight that Imperial German decision - making was so incoherent that Tirpitz could make this decision without consulting the Chancellor, foreign ministry, treasury, the naval strategic planning offices, or the two other naval offices: the Naval High Command and Naval Cabinet . He presented his new supplementary naval bill to the Reichstag, envisioning a 35% increase in spending over the Second Naval Act to build two dreadnoughts and one armored cruiser per year . The bill encountered fierce opposition from across the political spectrum because of the growing government budget balance and resistance by the Reichstag to raising taxes . Fortunately for the bill, the Algeciras Conference that concluded in April 1906 after the First Moroccan Crisis inflamed German nationalist sentiment against Britain and France and the third naval law passed easily in May 1906 . </P> <P> Wilhelm and Tirpitz, among other German leaders, viewed British actions as working in concert with France and Russia to encircle Germany . Tirpitz believed that Britain knew that they had a mistake in building the expensive dreadnoughts and armored cruisers, and that Britain would realize their folly if Germany did not flinch in following them . German leaders had also become increasingly nervous about a' Kopenhagen,' a British strike to disable their fleet like that conducted in the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen . In December 1904, during the heightened tensions of the Russo - Japanese War, rumors spread that Japan's ally Britain would attack and the German ambassador to Britain, who was in Berlin, had to reassure Wilhelm and other senior officials that Britain did not intend to start a war . As fears rose, so did nationalist sentiment, including right - wing criticism of the leftist Social Democratic Party, who resisted higher defense spending and encouraged peaceful foreign relations . </P>

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