With nearly two years of construction, Jochen's shipyard is almost nearing completion. Because of its location in Wilhelmshaven and the presence of the Royal Shipyard, the new shipyard was named Royal Ship Technologies, also known as the Royal Ship Yards.

Originally, Jochen's request was for the new shipyard to build a small shipyard of ships under 5,000 tons, but Caprivi was very generous to build four 1,000-ton shipyards, four 2,000-ton slipways, two 5,000-ton slipways and one 10,000-ton dry dock for Jochen's new shipyard, plus a well-equipped outfitting dock.

Because Jochen advocated the use of slipway construction, slipway launching, and dock outfitting model, the new shipyard had only one dock, which is very different from many of the larger historic shipyards.

Because the slipway can be launched after the hull is completed, and then the subsequent outfitting work is carried out at the dockside, the 5,000-ton slipway can actually construct large ships of more than 10,000 tons.

Caprivi was also very thoughtful in bringing in an experienced person in charge of the Royal Dockyard at Wilhelmshaven to be the director of the shipyard for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Of course, it is not without cost that Caprivi is so considerate, the conditions of the shipyard are better, and the price is naturally higher, so that he can pay back a little less gold borrowed from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Over the past three years, Jochen has lent the German government a total of 18 tons of gold, worth nearly 50 million marks, and Caprivi simply repaid Jochen a medium-sized shipyard worth a lot of money.

Now that the shipyard is almost complete, Jochen naturally wants to see what the shipyard that cost him 18 tons of gold looks like. So Director Hansen Michel took Jochen and his party to visit the shipyard.

"Your Highness, although the scale here is not large, the facilities are very complete." A Czech man looked at the almost finished factory in front of him and praised it.

"If the shipyard had been completed earlier, I would have liked to grab orders from Chile and Argentina, otherwise I don't know if the shipyard workers would be able to do it if they could build larger ships." Jochen was somewhat worried.

Last year, the Chilean Navy ordered a protective cruiser in Germany, but the design of the 5,300-ton Erin-class enhanced version that was originally intended to kill people was not sold because the asking price was too high, and the Chilean Navy finally ordered a new ship that only increased the speed on the basis of the original Erin.

When the news of the Chilean ship in Germany came back, the Argentines also hurried to the door, although the Argentines still bought the Armstrong July 9th, but now the order for the Buenos Aires finally fell into the hands of the Germans.

Although the Argentines did not choose the 5,300-ton plan, but in order to counter the Chilean Navy's newly returned Captain Prad ironclad, the Argentines also asked to be equipped with more powerful firepower, and finally selected the naval guns prepared by Krupp for the Brandenburg-class battleships, and replaced the two twin 210 naval guns with two single 260 naval guns, so the tonnage of the ship was slightly increased.

The orders for the two ships went to the Volken shipyard and the Germania shipyard respectively, both shipyards have built the Erin class, and the construction of two ships of the same type is completely familiar, so the two shipyards ask for a conscientious price, the Chilean one offered 370,000 pounds, while the Argentine one offered 400,000 pounds.

These two ships can be built in the new shipyard of Jochen, and if they can grab the order, even if they make a little less, they can be used to practice their hands, after all, it is a rare opportunity for the shipyard workers to exercise on ships less than 5,000 tons.

As for the two orders that can earn two incomes, Yoheng doesn't care, with the escalation of the naval competition between the Chileans and the Argentines in the future, there are more opportunities to sell ships, and his family will definitely not be able to swallow such a big cake, and he can't be too greedy.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, that the shipyard employs excellent shipbuilders with considerable experience, and some of them also have experience in building ships for the navy, so there is no problem in terms of ability." Director Hansen explained respectfully on the side.

"Not only are the facilities complete, but even the workers are very experienced, and it is indeed a very good shipyard." The Czechs next to him responded.

"It's a pity that it's a little far from the Naval Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin." Jochen said with regret.

The Institute for Naval Strategy was established in Berlin because of its joint research with the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, and it was not very convenient to have to travel a long way to tow a model ship.

"Your Highness, as long as you can design the best warship, then what's the matter if it's troublesome?"

"I'll be sorry for you after that, Mr. Popper."

The Czechman next to Jochen was none other than Sigfred Pooper, and no one may have known about the future Austro-Hungarian naval engineer, but his work must have been a thunderbolt.

The first and last class of Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts, the world's first completed battleship with triple guns (Note 1), and the last glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Combined Forces class, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Monarch class battleship.

And even if it is known that Poper designed the Combined Forces-class battleship, few people know that this designer also designed submarines.

In 1905, a design similar to the Holland was submitted in Poper, but with some technical details, but the Austro-Hungarian naval command only wanted to purchase from abroad and did not choose Poper's design. Otherwise, the designer of the classic ship Combined Forces class will have the halo of the father of the Austro-Hungarian submarine on his head.

Although the famous designer was the chief ship designer and engineering admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the future, Pooper, who now has 17 years of experience as a naval cartographer, is just a novice who has only designed protective cruisers and has only been in the industry for five years.

With the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the merger of the Austrian Navy into the German Navy, it was only natural that Pooper, as a naval technical officer, had to change owners. When he was considering whether he wanted to stay in the army, the director of Hansen invited him to invite him.

Although Poper is now only a newcomer in the world of ship designers, and has no qualifications or work, Hansen conveyed a message from Jochen when he was invited, and Jochen said that his new shipyard will build small and medium-sized ships in a short time, so Pooper's experience in designing cruisers is enough.

Moreover, the warship designers of the major German shipyards are not easy to poach, and the experienced technical officers within the Austro-Hungarian Navy are also mostly absorbed by the German Navy. Therefore, a big name like Poper, who has some experience, but is not the kind of big name that the military will not let go, is the most suitable to come to his own shipyard.

A non-obtrusive invitation made Poper decide to retire from the army, pack his bags and go to Germany to join the design team at Jochen's new shipyard.

As the only surface ship designer and chief designer of the shipyard for a period of time, Poper naturally wanted to investigate his future working environment, and judging from Poper's expression now, he was obviously quite satisfied.

"So what's my main focus next? Your Highness? Seeing that the shipyard was satisfying him, Popper was already a little eager to try.

"The design of the second generation of ocean-going torpedo boats for the Imperial Navy is also basically completed, and our shipyard will be able to get an order for 2 of the first 16 ships, so it is the first thing to let the shipyard operate first." Jochen didn't care about revealing the facts of insider trading and shady operations.

"The design work is mainly the design of the Navy's third-generation ocean-going torpedo boats, and in a short period of time, if our shipyard undertakes the construction of naval ships, it is still mainly aimed at small ships. Originally, I didn't plan to participate in the bidding for the Navy's next-generation cruisers, but since the shipyard is now capable of building 10,000-ton ships, you can give it a try, Mr. Poper, and maybe your design can win the Navy's order. ”

"It's not easy to design a ship that is better than the Victoria Louiser class, the next generation of cruisers in the Navy, Your Highness." The latest cruiser of the German Navy was very much appreciated by Mr. Designer.

"So it's up to you, Mr. Poper, and I'd love to see our shipyard make a name for itself the first time with a classic design." Naturally, Jochen already had a reference for this classic design, and as long as Popper's design was not worse than this reference, then his shipyard's reputation would naturally be an instant hit.

"Of course, this is also my hope, I will do my best, Your Highness, and of course I hope to have your guidance." Of course, Popper knew that a series of ships of the German Navy were indispensable to the shadow of the German Crown Prince in front of him, and how to make his design better fit the needs of the German Navy was indispensable to the Crown Prince's opinion.

"It's natural, and when your design work officially begins, we'll have a good discussion." Jochen readily agreed, and of course a talented person like Poper had to work harder: "In addition, I also hope that the new shipyard will have the ability to build submarines in the future, and I am very optimistic about the future development and role of this kind of ship." I don't know if you're interested in getting involved in the design of this new type of ship, Mr. Poper. ”

"I've never been involved in submarines, so I'm afraid it's hard to come up with a satisfactory design." Popper was a little embarrassed.

"Sir is thinking too much, and I don't say that I want to use this design to compete for the Navy's orders, I just hope to start the preliminary test work and carry out the accumulation of technology and numbers. Of course, I will also try to find a professional submarine designer, but I hope that by the time the designer comes, our shipyard will not be without a foundation in this field. ”

Jochen added to Popper's workload while putting a top hat on him: "You're the shipyard's chief designer, and I can only count on you." ”

"Well, I'll give it a try." Poper reluctantly agreed.

The submarine path of the German Navy officially began.

Note 1: The earliest triple battleship with main guns was supposed to be the Italian Dante-class, which was completed on June 6, 1909, and the combined forces on July 24, 1910, but Dante was completed on January 15, 1913, and the combined forces on December 5, 1912