“It is not absolutely necessary that the German Battle Fleet should be as strong as that of the greatest naval Power, for a great naval Power will not, as a rule, be in a position to concentrate all its striking force against us. But even if it should succeed in meeting us with considerable superiority of strength, the defeat of a strong German Fleet would so substantially weaken the enemy that, in spite of the victory he might have obtained, his own position in the world would no longer be secured by an adequate fleet.” Lord Fisher had not studied the progress of the German naval movement without realising that in this passage was to be found the secret of the strategic plan which the German naval authorities had formed. With the instinct of a great strategist, he reorganised the whole world-wide machinery of the British Navy, in order to suit the new circumstances then developing. The war in the Far East had shown that changes were necessary in the design of British ships of all classes. The First Sea Lord insisted that the matter should have immediate attention, and a powerful committee of naval officers, shipbuilders, and scientists began its sittings at the Admiralty. The moment its report was available, Parliament was asked for authority to lay down groups of ships of new types, of which the “Dreadnought” was the most famous. _In the preceding six years, sixteen battleships had been laid down for Great Britain, while Germany had begun thirteen; our sea power, as computed in modern ships of the line, had already begun to shrink._ Secretly and rapidly, four units of the new type--the “Dreadnought,” with her swift sisters, the “Indomitable,” “Inflexible,” and “Invincible”--were rushed to completion. No battleship building abroad carried more than four big guns; the “Dreadnought” had ten big guns, and her swift consorts eight.[3] Thus was the work of rebuilding the British Fleet initiated. Destroyers of a new type were placed in hand, and redoubled progress was made in the construction of submarines, which Lord Fisher was the first to realise were essential to this country, and were capable of immense development as offensive engines of warfare. We gained a lead of eighteen months over other Powers by the determined policy adopted. [3] It is officially admitted by the United States Navy Department that it had prepared plans for a ship similar in armament to the Dreadnought in 1904, and was awaiting the approval of Congress before beginning construction. American officers had come to the same conclusions as to the inevitable tendency of battleship design as the British Admiralty. Owing to the delay imposed by the necessity of obtaining the consent of Congress, the United States lost the advantage; in the exercise of its powers, the British Admiralty acted directly the designs of the new ships were ready.