In 1904 came the German ships Hessen, Elsass, and Braunschweig, and in 1905 and 1906 the Preussen and Lothringen.  They were well behind the English ships of the same years, for they displaced only 12,097 tons, made 18 knots, carried armor of from 9 to 10 inches in thickness, and a primary battery of four 11-inch guns, fourteen 6.7-inch guns, and twelve 3.4-inch guns, together with rapid firers and other guns in a secondary battery.  England at this time was putting 12-inch guns in the primary battery of such ships as the King Edward VII.

Still Germany kept up the race, and in 1906, 1907, and 1908 launched the Hannover, Deutschland, Schlesien, Schleswig-Holstein, and Pommern, with 12,997 tons displacement, 16,000 horsepower, a speed of 18 knots, and only ll-inch guns in the primary batteries.  Whereas England, at the same time, was building ships of the dreadnought type.

Next came four ships of the Vanguard class—­the Westfaelen, Nassau, Rheinland, and Posen, built in 1909 and 1910.  Their heaviest guns measured 11 inches, while those of the English ships of the same class measured 12 inches.  The displacement of these German fighting ships was 18,600 tons.  In point of speed they showed some improvement over the older German ships, making 19.5 knots.  Germany, like England, was now committed to the building of larger and larger ships of the line.  The Helgoland, Thueringen, Oldenburg, and Ostfriesland, which were put into the water in 1911 and 1912, were consequently of 22,400 tons displacement, with a speed of 20.5 knots and carrying twelve 12-inch guns, fourteen 5.9-inch rapid-fire guns, fourteen 3.9-inch rapid-fire guns, a few smaller guns, and as many as six torpedo tubes.

While England was maintaining her “two to three” policy, and while the United States stood committed to the building of two first-class battleships a year, Germany, in 1913, put five of them into the water.  These were the Koenig Albert, Prinz Regent Luitpold, Kaiserin, Kaiser, and Friedrich der Grosse, each capable of speeding through the water at a rate of 21 knots, displacing 23,310 tons and carrying an armament of ten 12-inch guns, fourteen 5.9-inch guns, and a large number of rapid-fire guns of smaller measurement.  Their armor was quite heavy, being 13 inches thick on the side and 11 inches thick where protection for the big guns was needed.

The largest ships in the German navy which were launched, fitted, and manned at the time that the war began, were those which were built in 1914 and which had a displacement of 26,575 tons.  These ships were the Koenig, Grosser Kurfuerst, and the Markgraf.  The corresponding type in the British navy was that of the Iron Duke, built in the same year.  The British ships of this class were 1,000 tons lighter in displacement, a bit faster—­making 22.5 knots to the 22 knots made by the German ships—­and their armament was not so strong as that of the German type, for the German ships carried ten 14-inch guns, whereas the English carried ten 13.5-inch guns.