did not turn her eyes seriously toward the navy until the
Emperor William II read Mahan's book, "The Influence of Sea Power
upon History." Previous to that epochal event, Germany had relied
on her army to protect her interests and enforce her rights, being
led thereto by the facts of her history and the shortness of her
coast-line. But the strategically trained mind of William grasped
at once the situation laid bare by Mahan; and his military training
led him to quick decision and prompt action. The necessary machinery
was soon set in motion, with the amazing result that in twenty
years the German navy became the second in power and perhaps the
first in efficiency in the world.

Was this feat accomplished by prodigal expenditures in building vessels
and other material of all kinds, and enlisting and commissioning a
large number of officers and men? No, the expense was less than
that of building our navy, even if a liberal allowance be made for
the relative cheapness of things in Germany; and the mere enlisting
and commissioning of officers and men was the simplest part of the
undertaking.

How was it accomplished? In the simplest way imaginable: by following
Moltke's plan of solving hypothetical war problems, and adapting the
military war game (_Kriegspiel_) to naval forces; playing numberless
war games, and deciding from those games the naval strategy best
adapted to Germany's needs--not only in matters of general principle,
not only as to tactics, training, education, co-operation with the
army, and the size of fleet required to carry out the policy of
the nation--but also as to the composition of the fleet, relative
proportions of vessels of the various types, and the characteristics
of each type. Nothing was left to chance; nothing was decided by
guessing; no one man's dictum was accepted. The whole problem was
attacked in its entirety, and a general solution found; and after
this, the various divisions and subdivisions of the problem were
attacked and solved, in obedience to the same principles, in accordance
with the results obtained at _Kriegspiel_.

If a very large and complicated engine of new pattern is to be
built by any engineering company, no casting of the smallest kind
is made until general plans have been outlined, detailed plans
prepared from these, and then "working plans" made for the workmen.
From the working plans, the workmen construct the various parts;
sometimes in number several hundred. Fi