With the 6,075-ton Austrian Central Gun House ironclad Elzezog Arricht, launched in 1872, towed out for target shooting, the Germans began a full-scale "loser" behavior.

Naval researchers, who had the rare opportunity to do so, tried almost all the current naval guns of the German Navy on the poor Elzezog Arricht.

After 10 days of shelling, recording the number of shells, continuing to receive shells, and recording the number of shells, the Erzezog Arrich was killed in the sea after contributing a large number of real guns.

Of course, the warships of the Austrian Navy were pulled out to shoot targets, and the Austrians were not happy, and they dared not cherish our ships when they arrived in your hands, right?

In order to silence the Austrians, Muntz was ruthless and put the Deutsche that had not been put on the shelves and sold on the list of target ships, announcing that after the Brandenburg-class battleships were completed, the Deutschland would test the power of the new battleships. Now the Austrians shut up.

The Germans had enough, but the act of sending their main ironclad to the bottom of the sea scared the others. For a time, the local tyrant spirit of the Germans "shocked" the whole world, and the whole world knew that there was a fool who used the main ironclad ship to shoot targets.

The French and Russians wished that the Germans would destroy the Great Wall and reduce the number of their own ships and naval strength. However, the British were naturally aware of the range of benefits that could be brought by using old ships for targeting.

However, it is a pity that the British Navy needs a large number of warships to maintain its sense of existence due to its colonies all over the world, although there are many old ships, but they can still come in handy. In addition, the British Navy's Monarch class has just appeared, and the ironclad ships have not been eliminated on a large scale, and they are not yet able to make such extravagant moves.

However, the British also decided that after the gradual commissioning of the Sovereign class, they would use the obsolete old ships to shoot targets to collect a number of jù, but this is estimated to be 2-3 years later.

Although the old ship has found its home, the old ship is targeted, and a new ship must be built, but the problem that the navy is facing now is that there is no money.

The early spring of 1893 had not yet arrived, and Frederick III occasionally caught a cold and had to recuperate for a while. On this day, after taking care of some daily affairs for his father, Jochen sat in the side hall of Charlottenburg Palace to rest. Before he could relax, Munts hurriedly walked in with a blushing face and a frown.

Muntz's face was so cold that it could be frosted, and the flames in the fireplace in the side hall could not ease his face in the slightest. Angrily sat down on the sofa in front of Jochen, and even the palace attendants who brought him a cup of coffee at Jochen's behest didn't give a good face, and he looked like the whole world owed him money.

"Alexander, why do you have such an expression? Who would dare to upset our Admiralty? Jochen joked.

"Caprivi that old thing, he has also been the Minister of the Navy anyway, how can he be so critical of the Navy?!" Muntz replied huffingly.

Well, it's really about money.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, why did you slam the door?" Jochen was a little puzzled, "Could it be that the budget for 1894 was withheld?" "The first five years of the 10-year plan for the Navy of 1888 are almost over, and new budget funds are about to be allocated.

"Not really, but Your Highness, you should know that we have just established the Mediterranean Fleet, and the old ships that remain are useless. Originally, the funds were a lot, but now it is stretched thin to take care of the Mediterranean side. Muntz complained.

"Then you'll go to Your Excellency, Prime Minister." Jochen kind of understood the ins and outs.

"Yes, I went to Caprivi and said that the construction of the Mediterranean Fleet cannot be left alone, so I hope that the budget can be increased, and I don't want more, and in the next 5 years, an additional 50 million marks will be added, and it will be about the size of 1 battleship and 2 cruisers, and he Caprivi will not give it."

As soon as he said it, Muntz became angry again: "And he insisted that the country is short of funds, and it would be good if he didn't deduct my navy budget." I promised that the funds for the 10-year naval plan will not be less than one mark, but I don't want to take one more mark, and threaten to deduct my budget if I want to entangle again! ”

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister is right, now that the economy is in crisis, the government has to spend money on large-scale infrastructure construction, and it has to support Austria, and the treasury is indeed very tight." Caprivi was right, and Jochen was bound to say something fair.

"But our side is not vexatious, the remaining old ships of Austria-Hungary are not even as good as the Saxon class, and the age of the ships is not short, and if they are to be decommissioned next, the Mediterranean Fleet will face a gap period, which is also a practical problem.

Even if the government has to spend money now, but Austria has been annexed, the central government has increased its revenue, so it is not difficult to allocate 10 million marks a year, right? Even Austria-Hungary had approved a budget for the construction of 3 new battleships the year before last. ”

Muntz is talking about the historical monarch-class battleship and the first generation of pre-dreadnoughts of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. These three former dreadnoughts are not so much battleships as armored cruisers with a standard displacement of 5,600 tons and 240 mm guns, and it is really a lift to say that she is a battleship.

The design work on all three battleships had already been completed, and the design drawings were handed over at the time when the Austrian Navy handed over all rights to the German Navy, so it is impossible to say that Muntz did not know about this.

But Muntz doesn't care about this, these are 3 battleships in one bite, the Austro-Hungarian economy is so bad and he knows that he wants to build battleships to strengthen the fleet, but we can only use old ships to make ends meet. You won't give me the funds for 1 battleship and 2 cruisers?!

"What did Your Excellency the Prime Minister say?" Jochen chuckled a little, Monds's excuse must have been deflated in Caprivina.

"What else can I say?" The Austro-Hungarian Empire originally planned to build a ship in 1893? That's what does the Austro-Hungarian plan have to do with me? Austria-Hungary is gone, and you still expect me to allocate funds to you according to the Austro-Hungarian plan? Mondz was there, learning Caprivi's tone, and Caprivi had learned it.

"Since Your Excellency the Prime Minister has decided, then the navy will have a little harder." That's all Jochen can say.

In fact, Muntz himself knows that the prime minister said that if he doesn't give, he won't give, and no matter how angry he is, he can only endure it. Now it's just a matter of finding someone to complain.

Muntz, who had no choice, could only rely on a group of old broken ships to maintain the structure of Germany's newly established Mediterranean Fleet first, and looked at the construction time of the Austro-Hungarian ships at hand again, and Muntz was so angry that he wanted to strangle Caprivie.

By 1893, 73.92 million marks had been used up by four Brandenburg-class battleships, 28.16 million marks by two Victoria-Louiser class light cruisers, and 17.28 million marks by 16 Project 1889 ocean-going torpedo boats.

The budget of 150 million marks for the first quarter plus the 10 million marks for the sale of ships from Japan at the beginning now only 40.64 million marks remained.

Although the first five-year plan is about to expire, the new budget of 150 million will be available in the next year, and it seems that 190 million marks is still a lot. But consider that in the second 5-year plan there were at least 5 battleships, 5 armored cruisers, and 16 destroyers.

These ships will have a larger tonnage, faster speed, and stronger firepower, but the corresponding cost is higher, 190 million is really not much, and now it has to take into account the upgrading and maintenance of the Mediterranean fleet, which is a headache for Monds.

However, Jochen is still happy to see this kind of thing, even if the money is allocated now, the navy will only build an upgraded version of the Brandenburg-class battleship, which will not be useful after 20 years. When the Dreadnought, armed with all-heavy guns, was launched in 1906, all former dreadnoughts were immediately swept away from the rubbish heap of history.

In future naval battles, the role that the pre-dreadnought can play is almost zero, while the role that the first pre-dreadnought can play is definitely 0. Historically, the German Navy's 24 former dreadnoughts in the lineup of Brandenburg-class, Caesar-Frederick III, and Wittelsbach-class class, a total of 14 former dreadnoughts, were completely soy sauce in World War I

The Braunschweig-class and the German-class were numbered in the Battle of Jutland, and the main fleet was held back by speed problems.

If it weren't for the fact that the former dreadnoughts still had to be built, it was necessary to constantly find problems and improve problems in construction and application, and the navy did need a certain number of capital ships in order to deal with the French and Russian navies, otherwise Jochen would have wanted the German Navy to reduce the number of dreadnoughts built.

However, just because you don't reduce the number doesn't mean you can continue to increase, and all 12 Tier 4 dreadnoughts built by Austria-Hungary must be cut down. It's not such a waste of money to have money, and the Germans are afraid that they won't be able to compete with the British when they take out this money during the Anglo-German naval competition?

In addition, after Germany annexed Austria, even the problem of insufficient large slipways faced by Germany was solved, and even if there was a shipbuilding competition, there was no need to worry about having money and not being able to build it.

The Naval Technical Shipyard in Trieste (later referred to as STT Shipyard), the Naval Shipyard in Pula and the Trieste Shipyard in Monfalcone are now German shipyards.

Among them, the STT shipyard will be able to start construction of three combined force class super shipyards at the same time in the future, while the Pula Naval Shipyard and the Trieste shipyard have also built former Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts.

And what, you say don't forget to build the St. Istvan, the Danube Ganz shipyard in Fum?

Before taking on the order for the St. István, the Danube Ganz shipyard had only built destroyers, and the St. István was also the worst of the four combined forces class. Germany's future capital ships should not count on them just to be on the safe side.

Speaking of shipyards, Jochen's own shipyard has already been prepared, and Jochen has a very good talent because of the annexation of Austria.