Dominion over the high seas had enabled a diminutive nation on the outskirts of Europe to attain unrivalled – indeed, unprecedented – influence. Since the days of Raleigh and Drake, the British had plumed themselves on a supremacy that could not, under any circumstances, be ceded to another power. A combination of patriotic pride and gnawing anxiety propelled the naval arms race that became a hot topic in Westminster in 1908.