"Hahahaha, do you remember the expression of the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Bebel?" Jochen clapped his hands in his office and laughed, "'You should be sent to an insane asylum!'" He said this like a madman. After imitating Bebel's speech, Jochen continued to laugh and leaned back.

"Even if there are many people who oppose it, but we succeeded, Your Highness, the German Imperial Navy no longer has to live tightly." Tirpitz was equally pleased.

"Yes, the cadets of the Imperial Navy no longer have to walk out of the school gate with pride, and then be poured cold water by reality." Jochen also sighed that his military school career was one of the most precious memories of his life.

"It's not just the Navy Academy graduates who have a place to play, we even need to expand our enrollment! To build such a large naval fleet in 10 years, the personnel gap will be huge. Tirpitz was excited.

"The naval academies on the Austrian side are now integrated into our naval education system, and the Royal Schiffrongen Academy, the Royal Mechanical Academy, and the Royal Marine Academy should be able to provide us with a considerable number of junior non-commissioned officers, alternate officers, and technical officers.

However, these institutions have the same problems as the British, with students entering the school at a young age and a rather narrow curriculum. You need to establish a system of further education, and the best of the graduates of these three schools must enter the Kiel Naval Academy to fill in the gaps in ability. Joechen commanded.

"Yes, Your Highness." Tirpitz nodded yes.

The reason Jochen and Tirpitz were so excited was, of course, because the Navy Act had been passed in Parliament.

Despite the fierce opposition of the Social Democratic leader Bebel, who denounced the navy as crazy, and the radical Liberal Party, the common pursuit of foreign rights and interests and the hunger for the preservation of such rights and interests in Germany could not be stopped by these people's rebellion.

Unite in the Krupp family, Albert? With the staunch support of the German bourgeoisie, which surrounded such a wealthy industrial tycoon as Bahrain, the Reichstag, which had not always been very cooperative with the work of the government, adopted the Naval Act by a vote of 265 in favor and 142 against.

At this time, the German Navy had a total of 10 battleships in service, 4 under construction, 5 heavy cruisers in service, and 8 light cruisers in service. Other small ships such as cruisers of the fourth rank, destroyers are not counted. However, the four Saxony-class ships have already been in service for more than 20 years, which means that the German government must start construction of 24 battleships, 9 heavy cruisers, and 36 light cruisers in the next 10 years, with an average of 7 large and medium-sized ships per year.

It does seem like a huge plan. But Jochen knew that the plan was not an exaggeration, that is, it was only slightly stronger than the first naval law in history in 1898.

The first naval law in history of 1898 was a plan to build 19 battleships, 8 coastal defense ships, 12 large cruisers and 30 small cruisers in six years to the end of 1903, each with an age of 25 years.

At this time the German Navy had 4 Saxony-class, 1 Oldenburg, 4 Brandenburg-class and 5 Caesars under construction? The Frederick III class consisted of 14 battleships, and by the end of 1903 the Saxony class had reached the end of its age and could be replaced by ships. In this way, the program of having 18 new battleships in the North Atlantic was maintained. As for the Oldenburg? It's good that everyone ignores her.

At this time, the German Navy still had a Mediterranean Sea to defend, so after separating 9 battleships, the battleships in the North Atlantic were only 24 battleships, and the Elector's position as the Oldenburg was ignored. Therefore, the Ocean Fleet, which had only 23 battleships, was only 5 more ships, and the plan was implemented for 4 years.

At this time, the economic level of the annexed Austria had also exceeded the level of the same period in history, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was able to build 12 dreadnoughts before 1909, and now it is not interesting to help build 9 battleships.

Now that the Navy Law has been passed, the Navy is naturally not prepared to waste time. Contacting the shipyard to prepare for the start of construction has become the most urgent task of the Navy.

And this work was also the work of the naval office in Tirpitz, at a time when all the designs of the ships that the German Navy was preparing to start work were in the shadow of the Royal Shipyard Technical Shipyard. Tirpitz naturally asked the owner of the shipyard for advice.

"Huh? Do you want Poper to be the Director of Naval Ordnance? I don't have any objection to it. But Popper didn't want to stay in the Imperial Navy to come to me, and let him return to the army, I don't know if he would like to. Jochen hesitated.

"That's not a problem, he's still the chief designer of the Royal Ship Technical Shipyards, and the position of Ordnance Director is only part-time, and now he has a shadow on the design of new ships in the Navy. I don't think it's very good to keep him completely out of the way, and he will need to be involved in the design of new ships in the future, and the position of director of ordnance is just to make it easier to work. Tirpitz explained.

"Then you go and tell him yourself, I don't intervene, he wants me not to stop me. He doesn't want you, don't expect me to help you persuade him. Jochen said with his hands outstretched.

"That's natural, of course it's up to me to say this, Your Highness doesn't have to worry." Tirpitz smiled when he saw Jochen's fear of trouble.

"Your Highness, then the construction of the new ship will start this year as originally planned, right?" Tirpitz said excitedly.

"Well, the battleship as a priority task, this year to start construction of 4 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, the design has already been completed, anyway, the "Navy Law" has been passed, your naval office can now contact the shipyards to prepare for the start of construction, do not wait for the appropriation to come down, this is too wasteful of time, strive for the shipyard to complete the preparation work and lay the keel before June, I can't wait." Jochen said eagerly.

"I can't wait, the new battleship will allow the capital ships of our navy to reach the world's top level for the first time!" Tirpitz was haunted by the blueprints of the new ship after seeing it.

The tonnage and guns of the German Navy have always been smaller than those of the naval powers due to various reasons, but the design standard displacement of the new battleship is as high as 15,000 tons, which is even more than 100 tons heavier than the latest Dignity-class battleships of the British.

The hull layout follows Caesar? The Frederick III class, with a long bow structure extended to the front of the aft turret, not only brought a higher freeboard and improved seaworthiness, but also provided more space for the secondary gun arrangement, while more cabins were conducive to improving the living environment of the crew.

The three twin-mounted main guns are still scattered along the center line, but the caliber of the main guns has been increased to 283 mm, and the number of secondary guns is higher than that of Caesar? The Frederick III class had 4 fewer guns, but the new naval guns with a longer diameter were used, and the firepower of the whole ship had a qualitative leap. With the ship completed, Germany will have the world's best first-class battleship, and it's no wonder that Tirpitz is excited.

"In addition, two newly built heavy cruisers, I hope that the Navy will name the lead ship Bismarck." Yohenti yì said.

"Your Highness wants to enlist the support of the political forces left behind by His Excellency Bismarck?" Tirpitz thought about it for a moment.

Historically, after Tirpitz became secretary of state in the naval office in 1897, in order to win the support of the old prime minister, he once visited his home, and in order to show goodwill to the old prime minister, he named the first German 10,000-ton armored cruiser that started construction in April 1896 as the Marquis Bismarck.

However, Yochen obviously had more ideas: "Of course, it is true that the old prime minister has passed away from the political group, and although he has set up many obstacles for the navy during his lifetime, it is undeniable that he has made many contributions to the empire, so naming a new warship after him I think is the best memory of him." Jochen said lightly.

Bismarck died on July 30, 1897, not as vigorous as he was during his lifetime, but the death of a generation of iron-blooded prime ministers seemed plain, and even the funeral was very low-key, Jochen attended the funeral on behalf of the royal family, and the old guy was not popular during his lifetime, and the people who came to mourn were not even as many as when the old Moltke died.

Although he didn't like him, Jochen could still feel a kind of sadness, since the name of the German Navy Bismarck in history was of great significance, then in this time and space, it would be good to continue this ship name. And to use this name to open new rules for the naming of heavy cruisers in the Navy, Jochen had other considerations.

"Alfred, do you really think that we will have no other resistance after the passage of the Navy Law this time? With such a huge program of naval construction, which will cost more than 7 marks, don't you think the army will be blushing? Wouldn't they be unhappy about it? When the time comes, they are also clamoring for a budget, and then the parliament does not approve it, then it is inevitable that there will be a rift between the navy and the army.

I am going to make all the new heavy cruisers of the Navy named after the famous army generals of the Empire, so as to show goodwill to the army, and when I see the names of the army generals as the ships of the navy, the army will not be able to clearly accuse the navy of spending a lot of money to build warships. ”

Historically, the large cruisers of the Second Reich Navy were named after army generals, which also became a tradition of the Second Reich Navy, so much so that later generations called the Scharnhorst-class battleships of Nazi Germany using the standard battleship three-axis propulsion layout as battle cruisers, in fact, look at the name of the Bismarck battleship to know that this rule did not apply in the Third Reich.

Jochen didn't know if there was a reason for the Navy to woo the Army, but Jochen decided to give it a political meaning. (To be continued......)