Rosenbach's Memoirs of Bertie Stein

In 1897, the German naval building program is in its infancy. The British are faced with having to rebuild their entire obsolete fleet. At first, they were not upset, but they became increasingly paranoid. And then Clark gives numbers of battleships to show that Britain was way ahead. If you think of a thing going at like accelerating over time, what's going on in 1897 is probably less important than what happened in 1907.