After Li Hongzhang left, Ding Ruchang continued to preside over the meeting and discussed some details of the purchase of warships with Wang Chenhao, Liu Buyun, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang, and other important members of the naval division, mainly to compare and analyze the current capital ships of various countries, and to find out the warship with the highest surname and price ratio as the blueprint for the design of the newly purchased warships.

Wang Chenhao has incomparable advantages in this regard, so Ding Ruchang and others mainly plan based on Wang Chenhao's views and suggestions. Before planning, Wang Chenhao first worked out with Ding Ruchang and others the issue of the class name of the new battleship, and finally determined that it would be a Dengyun-class battleship.

Deterrence by sea forces will inevitably lead to a naval arms race, and vice versa, and the two complement each other.

In order to position the Dengyun-class battleships correctly, the money was spent on the blade and the pain of the arms race was saved. Wang Chenhao, Ding Ruchang and other admirals needed to grasp the type, grade, deployment location, target country, and specific combat effectiveness parameters of all warships of various countries that were in service from the start of construction in 1895 to around 1897 to conduct a comprehensive analysis, so as to find out the differences and weaknesses of each [***] ship to make up for the shortcomings of the Dengyun class.

As the first class of all-steel battleships of the Qing Empire, the combat objectives of the Dengyun-class battleships were not only aimed at the Fuji-class, but also against the naval forces of Russia, the United States, Germany, Britain, France, and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and they had to deter them in order to avoid war as much as possible.

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, with the industrial progress of the European and American powers, the level of national strength was measured from the production of pig iron to the output of steel. New industrial standards will inevitably bring new competition, which is prominently manifested in the naval race.

In 1894, the United States ranked first in the world with an annual output of 8 million tons of steel and 23 million tons of pig iron. After the United States achieved the status of the world's largest industrial power, the economy became strong, but the military could not highlight the national strength.

As early as March 1889, the Republican Benjamin F. Tracy's report to Congress faithfully reflected Mahan's ideological views. He noted that the US Navy needed a fighting force, and it was necessary to have powerful battleships as a way to repel the arrival of the enemy. The report proposes the construction of two battle fleets, 12 for the Pacific Ocean and 8 for the Atlantic.

In 1890, Congress finally abandoned continental policy and isolationism. Began to get rid of the old strategic thinking of the navy, to create a deep-sea navy, to set out to create a modern navy. The United States has finally taken a firm step towards the ocean.

The first American battleship was the "Indiana" class, four of the same class. The first three ships are all 10,288 tons of tonnage, equipped with 16 guns, the largest caliber is 13 inches, the armor is average, but the speed is too slow only a pitiful 15 knots, but because the US Navy has no colonies overseas, the endurance is very high to 10,000 nautical miles.

In 1893, construction began on the fourth Indiana-class battleship, the USS Iowa. But the Sino-Japanese War taught the U.S. Navy that too slow was undoubtedly suicidal. At the beginning of 1895, the U.S. Navy made a large-scale modification of the Iowa, increasing the speed to 17 knots, the displacement to 11,346 tons, and a total of 12 12-inch and 8-inch guns, making it a separate Iowa-class battleship.

The U.S. Navy has money, and its powerful naval expansion law has stimulated the rapid expansion of the U.S. Navy, from the world's thirteenth in 1888 to the eighth in the world, and is catching up with the navies of Britain, France, and Russia at the speed of rockets.

The U.S. Navy has risen strongly, but Wang Chenhao believes that the U.S. industrial capacity in the Pacific region is insufficient, the naval deterrence is limited, and there is no large naval base, so it will not pose a threat to the Qing Imperial Navy for the time being.

In 1894, Germany produced 5.2 million tons of steel and 12 million tons of pig iron, surpassing Britain to rank second in the world.

In January 1895, more than 20 years after the reunification of Germany and the founding of the Second Reich, the young German monarch Friedrich Wilhelm II, in his seventh year on the throne, openly declared: "Germany is a world power" and "Germany's future lies on the sea".

Of course, when he said this without shame, he did not take into account the fact that the British had already become dominant at sea. But despite these, he began to work on building a large navy. In his New Year's message, Wilhelm II said: "I will not build my navy to the same level as my army, and I will not stop." ”

As early as 1890, Germany acquired the small island of Helgolan from the British, and four years later it became a huge German naval fortress. Subsequently, the German High Seas Fleet was formed, with the main base at Wilhelmshaven and the second base here.

In 1895, as Germany's industrial power continued to grow, Germany surpassed Britain in steel and iron production to become the world's second industrial power, so Wilhelm II's vow to catch up with Britain in every field is also very convincing.

After Bismarck was ousted by Wilhelm II, the pace of expansion of the German navy accelerated, and after the completion of the Brandenburg-class battleships, Germany had an ocean-going combat fleet.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Germany gained a foothold in the Far East by acquiring Jeju Island and Jeollanam-do on the Korean Peninsula as spheres of influence. Therefore, the construction of the naval base on Jeju Island was put on the agenda, and the German General Staff allocated 20 million marks and sent engineers and technicians to build a fortress defense system and a naval port on Jeju Island. At the same time, the German Admiralty also set out to build the Far East Fleet to complement the naval fortress base on Jeju Island.

The German Navy developed the Caesar-Frederick III class battleships on the basis of the German Brandenburg-class battleships with reference to the design ideas of the British Sovereign-class battleships and combined with the performance of rapid-fire firepower in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Instead of following the British artillery doctrine, the Caesar-Frederick III-class battleships changed their 305-mm guns to 240-mm rapid-fire guns. Sacrificing the caliber of the gun in exchange for an advantageous speed of 17.5 knots, but without compromising on armor, it has 5% higher armor coverage than the Sovereign class, and has strong survivability.

The Germans called it a battleship, but the British preferred to call it a large armored cruiser.

However, the key technology is not here. In 1895, the British naval artillery level could only make rapid-fire guns with a caliber of less than 152 mm, and further development, British Harvey steel could not meet the requirements. And the Germans' Krupp steel helped the Germans to meet the requirements for the use of rapid-fire systems for 240-mm guns.

The 305 main guns of the British battleships were powerful, but unfortunately the firing speed was slow, and the German battleships used 240 caliber guns, which were much less powerful, but they were better at rapid fire.

Another reason was the harsh climate in the North Sea, limited by the backward sighting equipment and the short line of sight, so the Germans believed that the use of 240 guns was sufficient.

Affected by the rapid-fire firepower of the Sino-Japanese War, the secondary guns of the Caesar-Frederick III-class battleships were changed to 150 rapid-fire guns, which were equivalent to the British Armstrong 6-inch guns, and the Germans removed the 105 medium-caliber secondary guns and replaced them with more flexible 88mm rapid-fire guns as secondary guns.

In this way, the Caesar-Frederick III-class battleships became all the rage rapid-fire battleships, a highlight of the late nineteenth century.

Five Caesar-Frederick III-class battleships were built in the same class, all named after the German King and King, the first ship began construction in January 1895 and was expected to be completed in 1902, fully replenishing the German High Seas Fleet.

The German Navy at this time did not yet possess global projections, and Wang Chenhao believed that it posed little maritime threat to the Qing Empire.