I should have been more specific about the time period I was referring to, which was the late-19th century
That was when US passed the UK to become the world's leading industrial nation (28% larger in the year 1900 as per Kennedy), yet US industry was still booming.
So the Royal Navy flatly refused to prepare contingency plans for a naval war against the USA, because the admirals knew it would be a losing proposition given the latent industrial capacity of the USA to produce more warships than the UK. There's historical documentation to that effect. It also leaves aside how Canada shared a long and vulnerable land border with the USA.
And on a factual note, in 1890 (just after the 1889 Naval Defence Act which mandated the 2 power standard), the largest warship tonnages after the UK were France (180K tons) and then Italy/USA (both at approx 242K tons each). Then it was Russia as the 5th largest (180K tons).
I don't know where you're getting your 'facts' from
In To Shining Sea: A History of the United States Navy, 1775-1998 By Stephen Howarth on p216 he wrote
"At that time when the British Empire was at its height most Britons accepted as a matter of course that a big navy was of itself a good thing: it was both an emblem and agent of power. So they were astonished when after the Civil War, Americans virtually destroyed the U.S. fleet - and not only did so with apparent alacrity, but also, it seemed deliberately neglected what was left. For some reason, the United States appeared to be willfully throwing away the chance of power abroad. To imperial Britons such perverse behavior was mystifying"
The US did not start to rebuild it's Navy till 1881 and it wasn't till Theodore Roosevelt was President in 1901 (i.e. the 20th Century) that things started to step up a gear.
According to The U.S. Navy: A History (3rd ed.) by Nathan Miller, the U.S. Navy was
twelfth place in 1870 jumping to
fifth place among the world's navies at the
start of the
20th Century.
Alfred Thayer Mahan himself is quoted as hoping "that our Navy will be brought at least equal to that of Germany" in 1911 and in 1912 he said "The US navy
should be second only to that of Great Britain"
In 1911 the Royal Navy was still supreme on the seas , followed by the Imperial German Navy with the Japanese Imperial Navy in 3rd place. The British ship yards had enough capacity to build not only for the Royal Navy but also export to Japan and South American Navies, furthermore, beyond 'British GDP' the Malay Federation, Australia and New Zealand all funded capital ships as part of imperial defence.
As we're really here to discuss the PLA Navy a pre-eminent Naval power isn't just about GDP but technical capability, a supply chain and ship building capacity. The Chinese appear to fully understand this and have methodically created their own technical capability, a supply chain and pretty amazing build capacity and then have ridden the GDP growth wave.
At the beginning of the 20th Century the British response to it's naval challengers was the aptly named Dreadnaught, still waiting to see what the USN is going to come up with at the start of the 21st to address the Chinese challenge!