The German Empire (founded in 1871) was rapidly building a world-class navy, but coal-burning warships needed frequent refueling and could operate only within range of a coaling station.
"[2] German naval planners in the 1890-1910 era denounced the Monroe Doctrine as a self-aggrandizing legal pretension to dominate the hemisphere.
"[3] In the mid-1860s, Prussia army and naval leaders considered building a coaling station in the Caribbean and proposed to purchase the island of Curaçao from the Netherlands.
However, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was strongly opposed since he wanted to avoid difficulties with the United States and so nothing happened.
[1] Indeed, Britain and Germany managed through Chile to have Ecuador deny the United States a naval base in the Galápagos Islands.