Royal British Navy asked an increased budget for 1897-1898 according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1897-1898 no. 4

An item referred to the magazine Le Yacht reporting that the Royal British Navy desired an increase of 12.500.000 French francs of her budget for 1897-1898. The reason for this desire was that other naval powers also their budgets increased. In fact an arms race.