Within the world's naval powers, the British Royal Navy stands in a class of its own, while the navies of the United States, Germany, and France belong to the second tier, and Japan and East Africa are in the third tier. Other navies can be further divided, such as Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia, and Spain, which belong to the fourth tier...
However, setting aside the transcendent British Royal Navy, any country in the second tier already holds a significant advantage over other countries in the world, and France is the gatekeeper of the second tier.
Even as this gatekeeper, France's navy is nearly twice as strong as that of East Africa or Japan in the third tier, illustrating the staggering disparity among world navies.
