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.
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