After their marriage, Jochen and Marie did not go on their honeymoon, and Mary began to get acquainted with the German court under the guidance of Empress Victoria, while Jochen continued to be busy with his own work. For this reason, Queen Victoria also taught Jochen several times not to snub his wife, while Mary persuaded Her Royal Highness that her husband's careerism was not a bad thing. Mary's reasonableness caused Empress Victoria, who was dissatisfied with her son's wife to be her favourite candidate, to the satisfaction of Frederick III. It's just that the real reason for the tacit understanding between his son and daughter-in-law is not something that the emperor and his wife can know.

In 1887, the British Naval Intelligence Department for the first time referred to the core ships of the fleet in the era of steam-powered warships as "battleships" in its report. At this time, it has been more than 30 years since the ironclad ship was put into use on the battlefield. The British Navy's fleet exercise of 1888 exposed a number of flaws in the design of the ships, especially the design of the battleships. To this end, the British Admiralty conducted a series of studies. Under the influence of White, new requirements for the design of battleships were proposed. And what was born was the Sovereign-class battleship, which later became a model for the design of modern battleships in various countries in the pre-dreadnought era.

At this time, although Germany was under the influence of Jochen, it designed and built the Elector-class first-class ironclad ships, which were more ahead of the Sovereign class in terms of protection design. However, its smaller tonnage and lower freeboard make it not a first-class warship that focuses on long-distance performance, and therefore far less influential than the Sovereign class. This was mainly due to the positioning of the German navy, which was mainly guided by the strategy of confronting Russia and France on the Baltic and Atlantic coasts. Therefore, the Electoral-class cannot be regarded as the leader of the pre-dreadnought era, at best it is a transitional ship from the near-shore shore defense ironclad to the long-distance pre-dreadnought, even if her protection design is better than that of the monarch.

After the Navy's 1888 shipbuilding plan was approved, as a 10-year plan for a large time span, at the end of 1888, the Imperial Parliament approved the first phase of the five-year naval budget, with a total of 150 million marks. This was good news for Jochen, as it had an extra budget of 50 million marks than in history, at least while the German Navy was not building battleships, it could sustain the construction of cruisers, which had a gap of seven years from 1892. Jochen did not plan to build cruisers on a large scale, but according to the idea of small steps and fast running in the first level of service, first level of construction, and first level of design, it was still necessary for Jochen to keep the technology of the Imperial cruiser constantly updated.

The budget of 150 million marks, plus the 10 million marks obtained from the sale of old ships to Japan, a total of 160 million marks of funds allowed the Imperial Navy to finally let go a little, after all, the previous Oldenburg class and the Elector-class only built 2 ships each, and this time the new ironclad navy plans to start construction of 4 ships.

Due to the change in the combat thinking of the German Navy, the design requirements of the new ironclad ship have also changed. At this time, the main imaginary enemies of Germany were France and Russia, and the main combat mission was to prevent the French Navy from blockading and counterattacking German ports, and to contain the actions of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. However, since the German Navy was no longer what it used to be, there was no need to blindly guard the way of fighting at home. Therefore, a new operational idea emerged, using the Saxony-class and Oldenburg-class second-class ironclads as nearshore defense to protect their coastline. The Elector was placed in the Baltic to contain the Russians in the rank of Queen Catherine. The new ironclad ships will enter the North Sea and even the North Atlantic to attack the French shipping lines, and even engage in a decisive naval battle with the French Navy in the form of a fleet. Therefore, the new ironclad ship must have good seaworthiness and long-distance sailing ability.

At this time, most of the first-class ironclad ships owned by the French Navy were low-freeboard ironclads that could only play a majestic role in the calm Mediterranean. The newer warships capable of fighting in the open ocean are the two newest Admiral Bowing-class ironclads with a standard displacement of 11,720 tons and three 370 mm 28 times diameter guns. In addition, Jochen knew that there were 3 more Marceau-class first-class ironclads under construction. Therefore, Germany's new first-class ironclad ships must have the combat capability to overwhelm these five warships.

And because the imaginary enemy of the German Navy is France, and France also has a good ship-building ability. Therefore, Rear Admiral Mertens (Note 1), the Ordnance Director of the Second German Reich Navy and the Director of the Kilgermania Shipyard, came up with a design that was modeled on the Admiral Baudin, and since the Admiral Baudin class adopted the design of three single-mounted 370 mm main turrets scattered along the central axis, and Jochen had proposed the same idea, the new ship was prepared to adopt the design of three twin turrets along the central axis. Moreover, he learned the freeboard inversion design of French battleships, and the cylindrical mast is also a typical French style.

This was the first type of battleship of the Second German Reich Navy in history with a pre-dreadnought style - the Brandenburg class. Due to the navigable capacity of the Kiel Canal, the draft of the German sea outlet, etc., the displacement of the Brandenburg class was much smaller than that of the monarch class, and the main guns of a smaller caliber were selected. Its six main guns were also one of the most powerful warships of its time. Unfortunately, however, the Brandenburg class did not leave a good name in history. The reason why this type of warship is particularly famous is not because it is equipped with 6 main guns and can see the shadow of the cross-era design of the all-heavy gun battleship, but because its 283 mm large-caliber erected main gun can only be fired in two minutes, and two more main guns are obviously not as good as four more secondary guns with a fast rate of fire. This is also the reason why everyone in the pre-dreadnought era installed a large number of secondary guns, and it is also because of this that the subsequent Caesar Frederick III class began to install 240 mm barrel guns. What is even more embarrassing is that due to the lack of space in the middle, the two main guns in the middle of the Brandenburg class use 35 times the diameter of the barrel, while the two twin main guns at the bow and tail use 40 times the diameter. The ballistic curves of guns with the same caliber and different multipliers are completely different, so it is impossible to share firing parameters. It was this design failure that made the Brandenburg class not only lose the aura of "quasi-dreadnought", but also become the laughing stock of naval enthusiasts around the world in later generations. The reference to the French inverted freeboard design makes the sailing performance of this class of warships not very good. It can be said that although the Brandenburg class opened the curtain on the German Navy to enter the pre-dreadnought era, the design of the ship can be called a failure.

Since the Germania shipyard built the Elector-class ironclad ships of the first rank, the new design followed the armor box protection layout, and adopted the rotating turret design of the new light cruiser, and also used a 150 mm barrel secondary gun, which was much better than the historical design. However, perhaps due to historical inertia, the main guns of the new ship still chose 283 mm 40 times diameter and 35 times diameter naval guns.

At this time, the development of 283 mm 40 times diameter and 35 times diameter naval guns was different from the development of the Brandenburg class in history, due to the influence of Jochen, the Navy did not have a plan to build Siegfried-class coastal defense ships, so the 240 mm 35 times diameter rack guns prepared for them did not begin to be developed. In response to the Navy's demand for larger-caliber long-caliber guns, Krupp began to develop new overhead guns. However, it is quite difficult to lengthen the 305 mm 25 times diameter frame withdrawal gun used in the Oldenburg class and the Elector class to more than 40 times the diameter, so Krupp decided to take a step back and develop the 283 mm 40 times diameter frame withdrawal gun, and the development of the new gun is quite smooth, and it is expected to be completed next year, so it was selected by the Admiralty as the main gun of the new ship. However, because the design of the new ship required the main gun diameter in the middle to be shortened, Krupp simply reduced the diameter from 40 times to 35 times.

Once the main guns have been landed, the design progress has been accelerated, and the navy originally planned to seize the time to start construction in the second half of the year once the design is finalized. However, the unsightly inversion and inconsistent main gun still make this design feel backward. Although Jochen did not expect to build this battleship into a famous ship that could surpass the monarchy, it could not become a laughing stock for future generations, so he did not give the chief designer Rear Admiral Mertens any face at the evaluation meeting.

"I don't agree with the design, there are three main problems. First of all, let's talk about the displacement, the standard displacement is 10,000 tons, the ship is slightly larger than the Elector, and it has to be equipped with more guns than the Elector. The new ship is designed to overwhelm the French Admiral Baltin, and if we can't make a significant performance improvement on the basis of the Elector, we might as well continue to build an improved version of the Elector. The size of the hull of the new ship is limited by the navigable capacity of the Kiel Canal, but the navigable capacity of the Kiel Canal is 15,000 tons, and now that the Imperial Navy is not short of funds, what is the use of building a warship that is not necessarily stronger than the Elector? The displacement is enlarged, and the new ship must be able to overwhelm the Elector class in terms of performance.

Then there is the inverted freeboard, which the French believe can reduce the weight of the upper deck and improve the stability of the hull, but this is what they themselves think. The French Navy's ship design is based on the calm Mediterranean, and in the rough Atlantic, the inward tilt design can improve stability. The inward tilt of the freeboard side causes the buoyancy of the broadside reserve to be insufficient, which cannot ensure a relatively gentle roll of the hull, and the roll is aggravated in bad sea conditions, which is not only difficult to ensure the stable shooting of the gun, but may even lead to overturning. The French came up with a design based on the Mediterranean environment, and you didn't think about it, is it feasible to put it in the Atlantic? The hull was all changed to a vertical freeboard, and the bow was vertical, and there was a certain amount of flutter like the new armored cruiser. At this time, the speed of the ironclad ship was low, and at this time, Jochen did not insist that the bow of the ship must be tilted forward, after all, there are many people who hold the view that the capital ship must be beautiful and mighty.

"Also, since the hull can be enlarged, the 283 mm 35 times diameter gun in the middle can also be replaced. Unified double diameter with the front and rear main guns, so that the ballistic unity can share the firing parameters, 6 main guns, can barely carry out a salvo, but the rate of fire of the main gun is too slow. What is the progress of the development of Krupp's 260-mm 40-diameter main gun?" asked Jochen.

"Your Highness, at this time the Krupp company said that the development progress was not smooth, because the span from 150 mm to 260 mm was too large, so it was not expected to be completed until 1894. However, Krupp said it would do its best. Major General Mertens, who was criticized by Jochen, replied tremblingly, for fear that this answer would upset His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Originally, in the plan of the Krupp company, it was prepared to develop a 240-mm 40-diameter tube withdrawal gun, but under the intervention of Jochen, the 105-mm tube withdrawal gun of the Krupp company appeared early, and the development of the 150-mm tube withdrawal gun also entered the final stage, and the 240-mm tube withdrawal gun was the largest caliber of the tube withdrawal gun that Krupp thought it could come up with in a short time. But the research plan was rejected by Jochen. Because Jochen knew what the 240-mm 40-diameter tube from Krupp was with.

The historical Caesar Frederick III class was equipped with a 240 mm 40 times diameter gun was a helpless move, and the Brandenburg class 283 mm gun was really difficult to meet the requirements, and the German Navy believed that most of the battles in the North Sea were close to the 240 mm 40 times the diameter of the barrel The power of the 240 mm 40 times diameter tube gun was enough, and the rate of fire advantage could still have the upper hand, so it took the initiative to reduce the caliber. As a result, the Caesar Frederick III class and the subsequent Wittelsbach class were among the smallest battleships with main guns at the time (Note 2). AND THE 140 KG LIGHT SHELL OF THE 240 MM 40 X DIAMETER GUN, THE MUZZLE VELOCITY IS ONLY 690M/S, AND THE PERFORMANCE CAN ONLY MAKE PEOPLE HEHE, THE CALIBER OF THE MAIN GUN OF A BATTLESHIP OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TONS IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE BRITISH'S ARMORED CRUISER WITH A 254 MM MAIN GUN, THIS PERSON JOCHEN CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE. However, after inquiring about the Krupp company, it was learned that the 283-mm tube cannon could not be successfully developed until at least after 1898, and the new ship-building plan could not wait at all, so it had to settle for the second best thing and demanded the development of a 260-mm 40-diameter tube.

"The rate of fire of the 283 mm guns was too slow, and it took 6 guns 2 minutes to fire 6 shells, and the 3 main turrets squeezed out part of the space where the secondary guns could be installed. In this case, it will be very disadvantageous in close combat due to the lack of projection ability, so it is better to use a 260 mm tube to withdraw the gun, although the caliber is a little smaller, but the rate of fire is increased. The 260 mm caliber is also the main gun of our Saxony-class ironclad ship, and it is also the naval gun of the capital ship class. As for the progress of development, it can only be done by Krupp. If it really doesn't work, we can only delay the construction period of the new ship, after all, we can't just find something to fool around with the main gun. ”

Since the crown prince said so, Major General Mertens could only accept it in its entirety. The design of the new warship was overturned. Construction of the first ship was to begin in early 1890, and since the name of the ship had not yet been determined, it was given the construction code A.

Note 1: The name Mertens comes from Erinhard Mertens (1891-1945), Director of Naval Ordnance of the Third Reich.

Note 2: Austria-Hungary also had a pre-Dreadnought equipped with 240 mm naval guns, but the tonnage of the people was small, so it was okay to install 240. The Germans pretended to be 240 and simply burst into tears.