The appearance of HMS Dreadnought in 1905 was a monumental occurrence for all major naval forces, as this new ship had made all the worlds battle fleets obsolete at a moments notice. But it also meant that everyone was back at square one, so to speak, which made it easier for aspiring naval powers to close the gap to allmighty Great Britain. For Germany, this decision came with a hefty price tag, since both shipyards and the strategically important Kiel Channel had to be resized in order to allow for the much increased size of battleships, and indeed many in the British admiralty had hoped that Germany would refrain from building similar ships or at least hesitate. Nevertheless, not long after Dreadnought entered service, the construction bureaus bustled with Germany's first dreadnought de