made available for a new battleship, the first of the , in 1895. Four large cruisers were also added; by this time, opposition to Hollmann's continued tenure had grown considerably, but the ordering of these vessels, which the kaiser favored, prevented his dismissal for a time.

By the mid-1890s, Alfred von Tirpitz had begun his campaign to focus development of the German fleet into a force centered on a large number of battleships, in opposition to the Jeune École. This was in keeping with the ideas of the American naval officer