As I'm currently playing Rule the Waves 2, I must say that the game mechanics that are described in the Campaings section of Ultimate Admiral:Dreadnoughts are directly taken from the game mechanics from RTW2. But I'm not complaining, I think it will be fun to play a 3D version of RTW2 :-). Actually the RTW2 interface is a bit clunky and takes a bit of getting used to, so if another games company borrows from a otherwise great game and improves on it I'm all thumbs up.
Now if you only aim to play the 'Naval Academy' /quick mission parts in Ultimate Admiral:Dreadnoughts yes that can not be compared to RTW2.