In this study, the Ottoman Fleet during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz is taken as a case that stands out as a Nineteenth Century precursor to subsequent efforts by continental powers, Kaiser Wilhelm II's Germany and Stalin's USSR, to build sub-optimal fleets in the Twentieth Century. Therefore, these two cases are added in order to answer the following question: why do continental powers establish or try to acquire naval power beyond levels needed for the physical security of the state? In the ...