Oddly enough, the great war with France was succeeded by a marked cooling-off of the popular enthusiasm for the navy in Germany. The reasons for this appear to have been disappointment with what the fleet actually accomplished and the complete overthrow of the enemy without its assistance. Even if all the federal ships had been in perfect trim and manned by thoroughly trained crews, they were confronted by so overwhelming a superiority of force that at best they could have achieved little or nothing. But the outbreak of hostilities coincided with a series of accidents which temporarily disabled several of Germany's best war vessels, and at that time there was not a single dock in the country in which they could be repaired. Officers and crews were, too, imperfectly trained and insufficiently familiar with both engines and guns, the harbour equipments were inadequate, and, in fact, everything was in a state of unpreparedness. That the French, with their great naval superiority, effected so little, and did not even make a determined attempt to force the Jade and destroy the works at Wilhelmshaven, can only be ascribed to their lack of initiative and the paralyzing operation of their crushing defeats on land. The only regular engagement fought at sea during the war was an encounter of uncertain issue between a small German gunboat and a French despatch-boat off the coast of Cuba. But in spite of the odds against the federal fleet, public opinion in Germany protested that it should have shown more dash and enterprise, and in some way have crowned itself with laurels. Even more prejudicial to the popularity of an ambitious naval policy was the patent fact that the hereditary and most formidable foe had been thoroughly and rapidly humbled by a purely land campaign, and that his superiority on the sea had availed him practically nothing. To such considerations must be attributed a large share of the indifference with which many Germans regarded their navy during the next thirty years. The prevalent views were reflected in the Memorandum with which, in 1872, the Minister of Marine, Lieutenant-General von Stosch, ushered in the first naval programme of the new German Empire. This document stated that in a long war Germany must leave the offensive to her land force, and that the proper task of her navy was to assert the power of the Empire where smaller interests were at stake in places to which the army could not penetrate. An increase in the fleet was, however, stated to be necessary on the ground of the growth of German sea-borne trade, and it was proposed that the following vessels should be available by the year 1882: 8 armoured frigates. 6 armoured corvettes. 7 armoured monitors. 2 armoured batteries. 20 cruisers. 6 despatch-boats. 18 gunboats. 28 torpedo-boats. 5 school-ships.