With the laying of the keel of the Jiyuan at the Volkeng shipyard, the construction work immediately began in an intense and orderly manner, and the design and construction of the Jiyuan also marked a great progress in the field of cruisers in the German shipbuilding industry. And the German Navy, naturally, also wanted to get this new type of cruiser. At this time, in 1872, the German 10-year naval shipbuilding plan had expired, and the planned shipbuilding work had not been completed, so the Admiralty submitted a draft to the Reichstag, requesting that the ships planned for 1872 be continued. The new plan is the five-year shipbuilding plan of the German Imperial Navy in 1883~1887, and the content of the plan is the supplement and continuation of the shipbuilding plan in 1872.

The Admiralty was naturally ready to show its strength, and the Imperial Admiralty Minister Albrecht von Stosch stepped down, and Leo von Caprivi became the Reich Admiralty, in order to better plan the naval ship construction plan, the Navy decided to convene a meeting, and Crown Prince Frederick attended the meeting, and Jochen, who was already 15 years old at this time, naturally proposed to attend with his father to "have a long insight", and the Crown Prince, who knew that he did not understand technology, naturally agreed very happily.

On May 1, 1883, the senior officials of the Admiralty who were waiting for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to arrive saw that His Royal Highness the Imperial Prince had also arrived, and they immediately became nervous, and it seemed that the "Critical Conference" in 1879 impressed them, and Jochen smiled secretly, and gave the Admiralty to increase his influence and increase his right to speak, so that they subconsciously believed that His Royal Highness Joachim's decision was correct, which was very beneficial to themselves, even if they became emperor in the future, this influence was more effective than relying on power to order. I'm happy to see it happen.

After the meeting began, the new Admiral Caprivy first introduced the completion of the German Navy's shipbuilding program up to 1882: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Royal Highness the Imperial Grandson, in the 10-year shipbuilding plan of 1872~1882, will build 8 ironclad ships, 6 small ironclad cruisers, 20 cruisers, 7 diving heavy gunboats, 2 ironclad gunboats, 6 notification ships, 18 gunboats, 28 torpedo boats, and 5 patrol ships. By the beginning of 1883, we had completed 6 ironclads, 2 of the Elector class and 4 of the Saxony class; 8 cruisers, 2 of the Leipzig class and 6 of the Bismarck class; 1 notification ship, and one ship of the same class is under construction, which is Lightning-class; 4 shallow water heavy gunboats; 20 torpedo boats. At present, there are 400 officers and 5,000 soldiers, and the basic situation is like this, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness the Imperial Grandson. ”

Crown Prince Frederick nodded to the Minister of the Navy in thanks, and then said, "Thank you all the navy for your great efforts in building up the Imperial Navy, and the current navy has also grown tremendously. It's a shame that the 1872 plan wasn't completed, but there are various reasons for this, so don't worry. As he spoke, he glanced at his son, who was sitting next to him as a student.

Seeing this, Yoheng immediately bowed his head and apologized: "It is indeed my reason that the Admiralty has cut down 4 Corolla-class cruisers and 6 small ironclad cruisers, and the construction of diving heavy gunboats and ironclad gunboats has also stalled. Impact on the Navy's construction program. I troubled all of you of the Admiralty. ”

"His Royal Highness the Emperor Sun said this makes us too embarrassed, although the construction plan has been affected, but it is better not to spend money than to spend money in vain, His Highness not only brought us new ideas, but also prevented us from building some ships that are bound to become obsolete, but also designed new ironclads and new cruisers, and also made us realize the great advantages brought by technological progress." Caprivi responded immediately.

"The Admiralty is overrated, and I am just trying to imagine that the designers will complete the specific design work. It's just a kid who likes to think about it, and finds a few of the useless things that work. Being able to tolerate my willfulness is what I should be grateful for. ”

"Your Highness is too humble, how can you embarrass us who don't even have usable ideas." The strict and rigid Germans are also very pleasant to say about compliments.

"Alright, don't compliment each other." Crown Prince Frederick interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness, but I'm telling the truth, His Royal Highness's contribution is indeed very important, and our new construction plan is also based on the Dingyuan-class and the new cruiser (Note 1), and we are planning to build our new ships." Caprivi gave another small compliment.

"And what's your plan?" Crown Prince Frederick asked.

"Back to Your Highness, since the Corolla class was originally planned to build 6 ships, plus light cruisers and large cruisers are going to build 1 each, we now have a plan to build 8 cruisers. And the Saxony-class was originally going to build the fifth, so there are plans to build a large ironclad ship. In addition, there is a shortage of 4 notification ships to continue to be built, while the original 6 small ironclad cruisers, 3 shallow water heavy gunboats, 2 ironclad gunboats, and 18 gunboats will be missing. And now it is ready to build 8 cruisers according to the new cruisers designed by the imperial grandson, and then build 1 ironclad ship similar to the Dingyuan class, and the resources of shallow water heavy gunboats, ironclad gunboats, and gunboats are ready to be used to build torpedo boats. ”

"It's a good plan, and it's not too small, so you shouldn't have any problems implementing it, right?" Crown Prince Frederick asked.

"Back to Your Highness, because of the abundant funds, and the construction capacity of each shipyard has also developed over such a long time, there is basically no problem."

"So let's do it like that, any more opinions?"

"I've got a little bit of a build." Jochen, who had been obediently in the audience, suddenly spoke. Everyone's face turned pale, and they were afraid that His Royal Highness the Emperor would start talking and criticize everyone severely.

"Jochen, what do you have to say? Let's hear it. "Knowing that his son has always been targeted, so Crown Prince Frederick did not feel like he was dismissed by his son, which is fortunate that Frederick is quite enlightened, if he is according to his dead brother William's temperament, he will never give Jochen a good look.

"Yes, father. First of all, I would like to thank all of you at the Admiralty for affirming my ideas for the two types of warships, and for being willing to believe in their performance and build them. I would like to express my deep gratitude. "First of all, I want to make a statement to these big guys, I'm not here to stir up trouble.

Seeing that the faces of everyone present were slightly gloomy, Yoheng changed his words: "But I don't build these two warships to build the future ships of the empire completely according to these two kinds of warships. ”

"What did Your Highness say by that? What's wrong with those two types of ships? "Although His Royal Highness the Emperor said that he is not provoking trouble, if there is a problem with the warship, then he doesn't need to pick it, and the matter is big. Caprivi hurriedly asked

"Your Excellency, don't worry, there is nothing wrong with the warship itself. But I myself have some minor dissatisfaction with them. ”

"Then what is Your Highness's dissatisfaction? We asked people to do a special evaluation, and they are all very good designs. ”

"That's right, Your Excellency, these two types of ships are foreign trade ships, and the first thing to consider when designing is the needs of the Qing Kingdom, and this demand is not necessarily suitable for our country. Secondly, after all, it is a foreign trade ship, and the Qing State has limited funds, so we also took into account the price in terms of performance. So there is nothing wrong with being a ship on its own, but it is not necessarily the best choice for us. Jochen explained.

"What does Your Highness mean?" Caprivi was a little unsure of what Jochen meant.

"Although it is a design problem, it is also related to some strategies and tactics of our navy, and I have a little idea here, please correct me."

"Your Highness, please speak clearly. I'll hear you. ”

"First of all, the ironclad ship, because of the idea of facing the enemy in the bow, the 4 main guns of the Dingyuan class are required to be able to shoot forward, and in order to allow the side side to also exert firepower, I built yì with a sideboard diagonal straddle arrangement, which everyone should be aware of."

"This is nature, and this design of His Highness can be said to be very ingenious." Caprivi responded immediately

"Your Excellency has a good reputation, although this arrangement looks excellent, and the bow and stern sides seem to be able to exert all their firepower, but it is only for the appearance. To the bow and stern, only the front and rear can play 4 main guns, and even if it is biased to the two sides a few degrees, the main gun on the other side has no firing angle, in fact, it can only play 2 main guns, and the same is true to the two sides, in addition to perpendicular to the central axis of the hull can exert all the firepower, although the main gun firing range is better than the bow and stern, but it is still very small, so it can only be said that it looks beautiful, and then it is a tactical problem, whether the bow against the enemy is really the future development direction? Personally, I'm not optimistic. Here are a few conjectures:

First of all, the formation of the fleet during the operation, since it is the bow to the ground, so in order to let the whole fleet exert firepower, it must be arranged horizontally, so it is difficult to command and coordinate between the ships, because to maintain synchronous action, it will be very troublesome to transmit information between the ships, and if it is sideways to meet the enemy, it will not, because it is a longitudinal arrangement, the ships behind only need to follow the ships in front, and the news is passed down in turn, because it is to follow, so the transmission is also very simple.

Secondly, it is also very difficult to maneuver in a horizontal arrangement, because when turning, the radius of the outer ships is larger than that of the inside, and it is much larger, and it is also difficult to continue to maintain the fleet queue. Therefore, the formation is easy to mess up, and the distance between the ships is also limited, and the space for various maneuvers will also be limited.

The third is firepower, the sideboard diagonal straddle layout is just beautiful to look at, and it will be top-heavy if the bow is full of guns.

The fourth is protection, I don't know if you have noticed, although all countries are now emphasizing the bow against the enemy tactics, but their main defense area is still on the side side, from the iron fort to the side armor, from the flat armor to the dome armor, is still to protect the shells fired from the side, and in fact, there are almost no real strengthening of the bow, because it is more top-heavy.

Therefore, although the bow can reduce its own projection against the enemy, it loses the three advantages of firepower, protection, and command. It's not a good deal. Therefore, to sum up, I think it is more reasonable to arrange the central axis of the bow and stern of the main gun, and it is more reasonable to meet the enemy sideways and have a wider firing range to give full play to the advantage of firepower, and to have the thickest main armor area to resist the enemy's shells, and then it is more reasonable to facilitate command and maneuver in a vertical formation.

Therefore, the design of the new ironclad ship should still be as I proposed in 1879, and it is best to use two twin gun emplacements on the front and rear central axis. And the number of construction is only 1 is not very suitable, the number of ironclad ships in my country is not many now, and Frederick Carr, the Crown Prince, King William, and the Elector, a total of 6 ships are a little out of step with the times, and these 6 ships are basically about the same age, do we have to face a possible cut-off period? The construction cycle of large ironclad ships is long, even if the new ship starts to be built immediately, it will take 4-5 years to enter service after completion, and the old ship will basically withdraw from the front line, and the construction of new ships can also stimulate the development of China's shipbuilding industry, and the construction of ships of the same level is not only conducive to increasing the proficiency of workers, but also can appropriately reduce the cost of construction, why not? The Navy is not short of funds now, and the construction of 2-4 new ironclad ships will not affect the overall plan of the Navy. Although the above are all justified, but Jochen did not explain one point, that is, Caprivey, who was born in cavalry, was later influenced by the new school of the French navy and was keen to build small ships, as a result, from the Oldenburg to the Siegfried class, the Germans built 9 small shore defense ironclads in a row, and until the Brandenburg class was dreadnought, the Germans did not have a large ship launched, and in 1884, the German Navy, which had a large number of ironclad ships, had a total naval tonnage of 160,000 tons, ranking third in the world. However, by 1893, the German Navy had become a third-rate navy together with Austria-Hungary, and small ships were easy to replenish, so now it would rather let the German Navy build more large ships to accumulate a base, and even if the total tonnage of the navy fell, it could be quickly replenished by the more powerful shipbuilding capabilities developed by himself after becoming the emperor.

After talking about the ironclad, Jochen began to talk about the cruiser: "The new cruiser we built for the Qing is indeed very good in design, and I believe that the one that can surpass the British in terms of defensive capabilities." Perfect protection cruiser', although the firepower looks worse than the British, but I believe there will not be much gap, but I believe that this type of ship will definitely have a large number of countries in the future to build or buy, then as China's future main cruiser, to overwhelm the possible opponents in the future, the current design is slightly weaker, so I personally think that the current model can be used as the benchmark type, the development of two ship types, one is to enlarge to the standard displacement of more than 3000 tons, in the bow and stern firepower unchanged, increase the side firepower and speed, the other is to enlarge to the standard displacement of more than 4000 tonsIncreasing the bow and stern firepower and armor while maintaining the same speed, didn't the empire complete the design work of the 210 mm naval gun, this type of ship uses a bow and stern twin 210 mm naval gun, and a single 150 naval gun on the side side, facing the enemy's ships of the same type, those who can't run can run, and those who can't run can fight. So that we can gain the upper hand in possible future engagements. As for how to distribute the quantity, we can discuss it again. ”

"But Your Highness Joachim, although the combat effectiveness of this new warship you mentioned is indeed excellent, it is a bit overkill to carry out overseas security missions."

"The warship we built for the Qing State is 2,700 tons, and even if the armor protection standard is appropriately lowered, it will be at least about 2,500 tons. If it is really used for overseas garrison, it is not necessarily more economical than the 3,000-ton one, and the Qing Dynasty has an ancient saying called 'cutting off one's toes to fit the shoes', which means cutting off one's toes to adapt to the shoes, which is not a cost-effective thing, so instead of reducing the performance to perform low-intensity tasks, it is better to strengthen the performance to bear the burden of the navy. As for the ships of overseas security missions, I also said that the speed attribute is also very important, so the only thing that can be reduced is firepower and protection, and our notification ships are very suitable. Moreover, these ships themselves have a high speed, which can also come in handy if they need to be transferred back to China, otherwise a bunch of ships with poor performance, if the empire needs it, what can be done to transfer them back? ”

"Your Highness is very true." What else can Caprivi say at this time, the designers of the new cruisers themselves are not satisfied, and they have given a lot of reasons, so naturally they can only nod their heads and say yes.

"The emergence of new ships, with the previous classification of ships is no longer suitable, the classification of China's cruisers is too troublesome, so it is better to say that the classification names of all cruisers take advantage of the emergence of new ships." The Germans' so-called classification of light cruisers, fast cruisers, and ironclad cruisers was too much of a pain, and the meeting on November 25, 1884 to revise the classification of naval ships not only did not make the situation better, but made it more troublesome, so Jochen decided to take this opportunity to directly reverse him: "First of all, I think that the general category of cruisers should be called cruisers according to the usual international name, and then the cruisers should be divided into sub-categories. According to the caliber of the main guns, it can be better distinguished according to its operational purpose, and the new version equipped with 210 naval guns can be called heavy cruisers, while those equipped with 150 guns can be called light cruisers, and those equipped with smaller calibers can be called small cruisers. It's so simple and clear. I'm done talking, a little shallow opinion, you all laughed"

"Your Highness is too humble. The next new ship design, I hope His Royal Highness can give more guidance when the time comes" A group of people finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"So do you have any other opinions?" Crown Prince Frederick finally spoke. But who can have any opinion at this time. "I will no longer be present at the formulation of the new plan, and you will submit the plan directly to the Imperial Assembly at that time, and the specific implementation after approval will depend on you."

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince expressed his gratitude to him, everyone present immediately stood up and saluted back.

This meeting on May 1, 1883, not only laid out a more reasonable and advanced plan for the future shipbuilding of the German Navy, but also strengthened his influence in the upper echelons of the navy, and little by little subtly incorporated the construction of the German navy into his vision: an offensive force emphasizing the war with the enemy, rather than a fleet that would only defend the door. Interfering with the mission purpose of a new type of warship is only the first step.

Note 1: Since the Jiyuan had not yet been named at the time of the naval meeting, her name is not mentioned here

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