On the resignation of Admiral von Hollmann, the Emperor appointed as Naval Secretary a comparatively unknown naval officer named Tirpitz. Born on March 19th, 1849, at Cüstrin, and the son of a judge, Alfred Tirpitz became a naval cadet in 1865, and was afterwards at the Naval Academy from 1874 to 1876. He subsequently devoted much attention to the torpedo branch of the service, and was mainly responsible for the torpedo organization and the tactical use of torpedoes in the German Navy--a work which British officers regard with admiration. Subsequently he became Inspector of Torpedo Service, and was the first Flotilla Chief of the Torpedo Flotillas. Later he was appointed Chief of the Staff of the naval station in the Baltic and of the Supreme Command of the German Fleet. During these earlier years of his sea career Admiral Tirpitz made several long voyages. He is regarded as an eminent tactician, and is the author of the rules for German naval tactics as now in use in the Navy. In 1895 he was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, and became Vice-Admiral in 1899. During 1896 and 1897 he commanded the cruiser squadron in East Asia, and was appointed Secretary of State of the Imperial Navy Office in January, 1897. In the following year he was made a Minister of State, and in 1901 received the hereditary rank of nobility, entitling him to the use of the prefix "von" before his name. With the advent of this officer as Marine Minister, German naval affairs at once underwent a change. His predecessor, who entertained very modest theories as to the size of the fleet which Germany should possess, had attempted to browbeat the politicians, thumping the table in irritation when he could not get his way. The new Minister from the first adopted other methods. He devoted himself to the education of the people by means of an elaborate Press Bureau, and was soon the undisputed master of German naval policy. He met opposition in the Reichstag with a smiling reasonableness, and set himself to win the support of opponents by good-tempered argument. In fact, Admiral von Tirpitz from the first revealed himself as a politician and diplomatist, and from the time that he took office, though now and again slight checks were experienced, naval policy in Germany made rapid--indeed, astonishing--progress. In the year after Admiral von Tirpitz went to the Marine Office, a Navy Bill, far more ambitious in its terms than any proposal that had been put forward by Admiral von Hollmann, was accepted by the Reichstag.