With the development of underwater mines and torpedoes, defeating a battleship no longer required another battleship. In so doing, she bankrupted the Empire and lost her position as the world's premier navy forever."ĭreadnoughts and hydroplane, British Grand Fleet, North Sea, 1914. "The lure of a convenient enemy, intent on fighting a battle that the Royal Navy relished, was too much," says Angus Ross, a professor at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island who has written about the topic. By the end of the war, the nation had nearly bankrupted itself building close to 30 dreadnoughts that faced significant threats from torpedo ships operated by even small navies. However, the massive cost of the ships, at a time when the British Empire was in severe financial distress, was ruinous in the long term. They forced Germany to pour huge sums into its own navy, making it difficult to effectively finance its war effort.
The Grand Fleet's enormous number of first-class battleships-some 35 ships, including a half-dozen from the US-played a key role in the war effort. Though still a matter of some dispute amongst military historians, World War I largely ushered in the end of British dominance of the high seas and the beginning of the end of the British Empire.
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