"I can see how important sea supremacy is to us, Jochen." Frederick III said: "But our geographical position is not ideal, and our naval power is divided in different areas, so there is a great defect in the control of the sea. Our navy is at the mercy of others at the choke point of the ocean, and the role of the navy will be contained. ”

"It is precisely because of our geographical disadvantage that we need an offensive navy. Because such a geographical disadvantage could not be solved by land warfare, it could only be solved by relying on the navy.

Whether it is a cruiser or a passive defensive navy, the navy is on the defensive, and the weakness of the navy is very obvious under geographical restrictions, and even a small offensive navy, before it is completely annihilated, even if it only allows the enemy to enter the strategic defensive, then it can gain the initiative on the battlefield and offset some of the geographical restrictions. Jochen stated.

Jochen had more than that.

Indeed, a strong navy is measured by the number and importance of its maritime chokepoints, not by the strength of its naval fleet.

Therefore, the United States, which received the same naval tonnage as the British in naval treaties after World War I, is still a regional naval power, not a world naval power.

Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union, which failed in challenging sea power in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, all had extremely powerful and fearsome naval fleets, but they could only be called regional naval powers.

In fact, Germany was even more miserable, and Japan managed to control the entire eastern Pacific Ocean and master the Strait of Malacca in the early days of the Pacific Ocean. The Soviet Union also managed to lay a nail in Cam Ranh Bay and hold the passage of the Pacific and Indian Oceans in its hands. Germany in World War I had a powerful fleet in the air, but its ability to control the Atlantic was 0.

In fact, this feels the same as the later republics that built warships and dumplings, although many Japanese fans are still clamoring that the Maritime Self-Defense Force, which was emasculated by the United States godfather and reduced to the anti-submarine air defense detachment of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is far stronger than the Republic Navy, but if you know a little about arithmetic and calculate the comparison of the naval forces of the two countries, it is not difficult to conclude that the strength of the Republic Navy has surpassed that of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

But the Republican Navy was also faced with the embarrassment that Germany was now facing, that is, the navy's control of almost all the important waterways in the Pacific (Atlantic) was not its own, and the huge fleet trapped in the small ponds of the East China Sea (North Sea) was simply a decoration.

So how to solve this problem, in fact, is very simple, to build an offensive navy with sufficient offensive capabilities.

Because the choke point is not an unsolvable problem, there is no so-called ocean separation, and the blockade of the island chain is not a problem at all for an offensive navy that is strong enough.

The use of its huge military force cannot be contained by a mere choke point, and as long as it can form an advantage in offensive operations, it is not difficult to separate the choke point from the overall blockade and eliminate it. In World War II, the Americans' island-hopping operation was their offensive, and after the navy ensured its sea supremacy, the strategic value and significance of the choke point would be greatly reduced, and even so low that there was no longer even the need to attack it.

And there is only one prerequisite for the creation of such a navy, which is a sufficiently strong national financial and industrial capacity, which Germany now has.

"I've always been supportive of building a navy, but you should be well aware of what we need to do to achieve what you call an offensive and decisive navy.

Although your fleet economics has indeed been proven over the years, and the development of China's shipbuilding industry has indeed led to the overall industrial progress, we cannot increase the investment in the navy without limit, which will put a burden on our economy and destroy the current political pattern in Europe. Frederick III could see what it would take to build such a navy.

In fact, because the authority of the German emperor was not enough, the frenzied expansion of the army would indeed increase the economic burden, but it did not mean that it could not be done, in 1895 Japan's military expenditure accounted for 32 of the supervision budget, in 1896 it rose to 48, and in 1897 it exceeded 50.

After the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Russian navy was destroyed and domestic contradictions abounded.

However, both Japan and Russia can still maintain their social and economic operations, which is nothing more than because of the supremacy of their imperial power, feudal centralized rule, and high-pressure management. Germany did not have this foundation, and the struggle between the interests of the feudal aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat made it impossible for the German emperor to say anything.

Although Frederick III was the son-in-law of Queen Victoria and was also pro-British, it did not mean that he was not wary of Britain.

Seven years had passed since his accession to the throne in 1888, and Frederick III had not failed to seek an Anglo-German alliance, but Britain, which pursued a policy of glorious isolation and continental balance, was naturally reluctant to personally intervene in the disputes on the European continent, so Anglo-German relations were now inseparable.

If Germany were to carry out a massive naval build-up, it would be very likely to undermine this immediate-and-a-far relationship, which would not last long, even in Jochen's eyes.

However, Jochen didn't want to do any crazy expansion at this time, there is a hairy man who is frantically building a navy, how good it is to block the wind and rain in front of Germany, and he must be low-key.

However, because of some historical deviations from his own butterfly, it needs to be corrected.

"Father, I am not prepared and do not want to expand the Navy now. An offensive decisive battle navy does need to have a fairly strong support to be sufficient.

Our country's industrial production capacity is the largest in the world, which gives us the ability to build such a fleet, and of course, the construction of the navy is premised on the destruction of the balanced development of the industrial system. Industrial capacity determines military strength. Therefore, I do not call for the construction of such a navy now, but rather the positioning of an offensive and decisive navy as the future direction of the German Navy, and formulate a long-term development plan with a long period of time on this basis. Jochen replied.

"So what's your plan?" Frederick III asked.

"The first is to elevate the status of the Navy, which is now more like the Imperial Navy Administration under the Prime Minister's Office. The position of the Imperial Admiralty in the military leadership of the entire empire was not commensurate with the responsibilities he assumed.

The Chief of the Army General Staff has the power to report on the affairs of the Army beyond the Prime Minister's private audience with the Admiralty, and the Minister of the Navy should also have this power, and the voice of the Admiralty should also be taken seriously in the Imperial Military Cabinet.

I believe that the elevation of the status of the Navy requires a corresponding institution to achieve this.

First of all, the Imperial Navy Cabinet was established independent of the Imperial Military Cabinet, which was responsible for the promotion, appointment, and other arrangements for naval officers, and the formulation and issuance of relevant regulations and instructions.

Second, the establishment of the Office of the Navy, which would have undertaken the administrative functions originally undertaken by the Admiralty, including formulating and managing the Navy's construction and development plans, organizing logistical supplies, and representing the Navy in the Parliament to receive questions from the Parliament or to put forward the Navy's bills.

Thirdly, the creation of the General Command of the Imperial Navy, the main tasks of which were the development of operational plans, training in combat readiness and command in wartime. ”

In fact, in the original history, these mentions should have been implemented not long after Wilhelm II came to power, and Jochen was just copying Wilhelm II's approach.

However, in order to strengthen the emperor's control over the navy, Jochen added another article on this basis: "The above three departments are all under the Imperial Admiralty, and the Imperial Admiralty is renamed the Imperial Navy General Staff, and is directly responsible to the emperor like the Imperial General Staff." ”

This article is different from the historical Tirpitz who changed the Imperial Navy General Headquarters to the Naval General Staff in order to gain the support of the Emperor, and was directly responsible to the Emperor, while he himself was responsible to the Prime Minister as Secretary of State in the Naval Office.

Originally, the head of the Navy's cabinet, the secretary of state in the Navy's office, the chief of the Navy's General Staff, and later the commander of the High Seas Fleet were theoretically equal, so Tirpitz's main battle ideas would be resisted by the Navy's Chief of Staff, the head of the Navy, and the two commanders of the High Seas Fleet, and Tirpitz's ally was only Ingnoor, who became commander of the High Seas Fleet in 1913.

But with such a change by Jochen, then the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy will be the first person in the Navy, and this position will of course belong to Tirpitz. Then Tirpitz will naturally have the power to say everything within the navy. One qiē and one qiē are all for the construction of an offensive navy.

"The Army will be very dissatisfied with elevating the status of the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy to the same level as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff." Frederick III said.

"The Imperial General Staff only needs to take care of the Army, if you can, it is better to change the Imperial General Staff to the Imperial Army General Staff, but if you want to demote them by one level from the name, those guys in the Army are estimated to die. So let's talk about it later. Jochen also made no secret of Frederick III's intention to weaken the power of the army officers.

Frederick III was naturally not surprised to know that his son had been trying to weaken the influence of the army officer corps on the military power of the entire empire, and it was undoubtedly the quickest way to raise the status of the navy and confront the army.

Frederick III knew that his son had always liked to make preparations, and since he wanted to reform, he, the chief of staff of the navy, would definitely have a plan ready.

"Since you want to reform the structure of the Imperial Navy, you should have a reform plan ready, right? Alexander, this old slippery head, this kind of thing is not said by him, the Minister of the Navy, in person. Frederick III laughed.

"The reform of the Admiralty was proposed to accommodate Memorandum IX, and therefore it was only fitting that I, the author of IX, should be more appropriate, so Your Excellency the Minister has asked me to take on this great responsibility." Jochen also smiled and said nice things to his boss.

"Alright, bring your plan, and I will make a decision after discussing it with His Excellency the Prime Minister." Frederick III said.

Jochen knew that if his father said this, then there would be no problem, as long as his father did not object, then Caprivi would faithfully carry out the emperor's orders. RS