On May 17, 1895, Japan and the Qing Dynasty signed an armistice agreement in Tokyo under the joint witness of Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and the United States.

Japan became an important new force in the Far East in one fell swoop after tearing off the powerful cloak of the original hegemon of the Far East, and Japan, which received a one-time indemnity of 200 million taels of silver in silver, rejoiced, and when the ordinary people thought that they could be rewarded by the country for supporting the war in their hardships, the Japanese began to prepare to point the finger at the next opponent.

Just a month after the treaty was signed, Saigo ordered Gonbei Yamamoto, who had been promoted to the post of chief of the Major General Affairs Bureau, to draw up a naval shipbuilding plan with Russia as an imaginary enemy.

Gonbei Yamamoto spent five months formulating the "11th Naval Expansion Proposal", in which it was analyzed that the Japanese Navy battleships at this time only had the captured Zhenyuan, and as soon as the war ended, Germany immediately released it to return to China, and now it has been renamed the two Oldenburg-class battleships Tango and Hizen.

The total tonnage of the Russian Far East Fleet is 134,000 tons, and the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy is about 110,000 tons, which is not much different, but considering the strong Russian fleet in Europe and the possibility of the support of its ally France, the Japanese Navy may face a fleet of up to 210,000 tons.

Therefore, to start a war with Russia and Russia's potential ally, France, the minimum condition was to build a fleet of six battleships and six cruisers of the first rank, that is, the "Six-Six Fleet Plan". The program was carried out in two batches.

Congratulations, congratulations, this extremely ally against Russia did not include the Germans as in history. Therefore, the first phase of the "66 Fleet Plan" required the purchase or construction of 4 ironclad battleships, 4 first-class cruisers, 2 second-class cruisers, and a total of 19 other small ships, and required a budget of 200 million yen, while Japan's budget for 1895 was only 91.6 million yen.

At this time, Japan received only 200 million taels of silver in the war indemnity, and the countries paid it all in one lump sum, so there was no interest, the emperor took 6 of them, and the rest was all used as military expenses.

All this money went into the pockets of the army, and the navy took about half of the funds. However, even this nearly half of the funds are not enough for the first phase of the 66th Fleet.

Therefore, although the cabinet approved the 66th Fleet plan, the parliament slashed the first phase of the project. Only a budget of 95 million yen was agreed, so that only one battleship could be built, and only two cruisers of the first rank could be built, and the rest was all out of play.

How can this be endured, the Navy simply played a scoundrel and threw the entire 10-year plan consisting of 6 battleships, 6 cruisers of the first rank, 6 cruisers of the second rank, and 6 cruisers of the third rank to the parliament, and you can do it yourself.

This is not a good stubble for a while, which means that you captured Zhenyuan from the Qing Kingdom, and there are 2 Oldenburg-class battleships purchased from Germany, as well as two Fuji-class battleships purchased from Britain, which is already 5, plus a Hequan purchased from Germany, this is a first-class cruiser, so you only need to come 5 more.

How can this be done? The navy was in a hurry, and immediately said, Zhenyuan is our prisoner, how can it be counted? 2 Oldenburg-class ships were purchased urgently under special circumstances in wartime, how can this be counted? We recognize the two Fuji-class, then you have to give us four more battleships. The Izumi is also considered an emergency purchase before the war, and it cannot be counted either.

The navy is cheating, but people have the money to cheat, who told them to win the First Sino-Japanese War? And there is the emperor behind them to support them. The parliament also couldn't afford to lose face as before, so it played a trick like this, and the navy also made concessions. The council finally agreed to the plan of 4 battleships, 6 cruisers of the 1st class, 2 cruisers of the 2nd and 3rd ranks.

So the question is, which excavator technology is stronger, cough cough, wrong, it should be which one is stronger in shipbuilding technology, European British and German shipyards.

Satisfied with the Fuji-class battleships designed by the British, the Japanese planned to order all four battleships in the UK, and the Izumi's cousin during the Sino-Japanese War prepared the Japanese to hand over the construction of first-class cruisers to Germany.

The Japanese were in full swing with plans to expand their navy, and the Germans were also reforming their navy.

After the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Zhenyuan was captured by the Japanese and dragged back to Japan, and the Izumi was also shot many times during the war.

However, the most important thing is not this, but a "Report on the History and Summary of the Battle of Nissin" written by Tirpitz after returning to Moresby, and this report attracted great attention from the German Navy after being sent back to Germany. Around this report, many of the strategies and tactics of the German Navy began to be studied and reformed.

Since Tirpitz had been promoted to rear admiral and was running to be the commander of his Far East Fleet, the position of chief of staff of the German Navy, which originally belonged to him, was occupied by Rear Admiral Jochen, a naval staff officer.

However, it is said that the chief of staff of the Navy, in fact, most of the basic work is carried out by the deputy chief of staff, Colonel Hugovon Pol.

Bol was a very capable deputy chief of staff, who, like Tirpitz, came from the torpedo boat unit and was also an advocate of torpedo attack tactics, leaving the front line in 1890 as secretary of state for the navy, and in 1894 he was transferred to serve as his deputy when Jochen became chief of naval staff.

Pol kept his work in order, giving Jochen, the chief of staff of the Navy, considerable time to get away from his business. As a subordinate, he is capable, obedient, and able to do things, but lacks courage and assertiveness. In the early years of World War I, as Chief of Staff of the Navy and head of the Naval Cabinet Georg Alexander von Müller, and former commander of the High Seas Fleet Henning von Herzendorf had been Tirpitz's biggest obstacles, and his disagreement with Tirpitz was simply whether the High Seas Fleet should take the initiative or not.

Subordinate to Wilhelm II, who was reluctant to keep his own fleet, he became one of the main culprits for wasting the best opportunity for a decisive battle between the High Seas Fleet and the British Royal Navy.

After the departure of Ingnoll, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, who was dismissed after the defeat at the Battle of Gua, Tirpitz lost his most powerful ally in the navy, and the German navy became a fleet with nothing to do until the Battle of Jutland.

Therefore, Jochen's use of Bol was clear from the beginning, a deputy, and he must be able to do a good deputy.

Jochen now asked Boll to assist him in formulating the next direction for the German Navy based on Tirpitz's report, and the finished product was the Strategic and Tactical Memorandum No. 9 of the General Staff of the Navy, which now sits on Frederick III's desk.

The memo, which was supposed to have been submitted by Tirpitz in 1894, was now in front of the German Kaiser through Jochen.

"Aggressive potential?" Frederick III pondered the word, and asked with some confusion: "Do you want the general strategy of our navy to shift from defensive to offensive?" ”

"No, father, our navy is still here to protect our coastline, but this Sino-Japanese War proves that passive defense is worthless in naval warfare. This is different from land warfare, in which sea supremacy can only be guaranteed by completely defeating the opponent's fleet, and it is impossible to rely on other means to ensure sea supremacy.

Therefore, the navy must be offensive, and this offensive nature does not mean a change in the strategy of our navy, but a change in the methods we use to achieve our strategy. ”

"In order to protect our coastline, so take the initiative to attack, right?" Frederick III went on to say: "Go on, your reasons. ”

"Naval warfare is different from land warfare, which can be defended by well-built fortifications, and the defender can withstand the attack of an enemy several times larger than his own, so the defender has an advantage.

But naval warfare is different, naval warfare has no defense, the fleet is in motion, there is no terrain and fortifications in their favor, the only thing that can be relied on is the performance of the battleship and the plain of the sailors, so the naval battle is only offensive! Jochen spoke generously.

"You are the British in the building of the navy, and our main focus is not on the sea, you should know that, Jochen." Frederick III knew that his son had a great passion for the navy, and that Germany needed a strong navy for its development, which Frederick III also supported, but this did not mean that the German navy would become an offensive and decisive navy.

"Yes, father, this is indeed the naval train of thought of the British, but there is no doubt that they are right. There are two main types of mainstream naval thought in the world, one is French and the other is British.

The French believed that it was more advantageous to destroy the enemy's trade lanes than to destroy the enemy's warships, and that it was more advantageous to obtain the enemy's colonies than to destroy the enemy's fleet.

The British, on the other hand, believed that by destroying the enemy fleet, they would be able to control the trade lanes, and that by destroying the enemy fleet, they would be able to control the enemy's colonies, and that there was no need to concentrate all their forces, because in this way the enemy would have enough time to assemble, and the losses caused by direct attacks would eventually evolve into their own advantages in the continuous accumulation.

As you said, father, our main energy is not at sea, but whether it is to protect our existing colonies, or to protect our coastline, I think the British are right.

Because relying on cruising operations cannot guarantee its effectiveness without sea supremacy, without sea supremacy, the enemy can calmly mobilize forces to search for ships carrying out cruising operations, and cruising operations themselves have extremely high requirements for logistical support, which is not suitable for us with few colonies.

If we are the attacker, then we control the sea dominance, or at least make it impossible for the enemy to gain sea supremacy, then the decision on whether to conduct a cruising operation is in our hands.

And we, as the defender, have gained sea supremacy, or the enemy cannot obtain sea supremacy, then there is no need to worry about the defense of the coastline at all.

The premise of this qiē is that we are to defeat or inflict heavy damage on the enemy in the decisive battle of the fleet. ”

"Your basis is the Sino-Japanese War?" Frederick III asked.

This idea is not new, but it has always been questionable whether it is necessary for our country to propose the construction of an offensive and decisive navy when the French naval thinking has a strong influence on all countries in the world.

But now it is no longer a question, a navy that is not aggressive, and the fate of the Qing Beiyang Naval Division is a lesson for us.

A fleet that is not capable of completely destroying or inflicting unbearable losses on the enemy in a war, that is not offensive in nature, and that does not intend to take risks and make sacrifices, will have no strategic value. Staying in Hong Kong and finally facing defeat and choosing to sink and save face is already the best result.

The best evidence is the expression of the two sides in the Sino-Japanese War. Whether the purpose is offensive or defensive, the navy that has the supremacy of the sea will be the ultimate winner in a decisive battle at sea. ”RS