 Following the appointment of General Leo von Caprivi as the German admiralty chief in 1883, the navy began to experiment more seriously with torpedo boats.Caprivi embraced some of the ideas of the "Jeune École" doctrine, mostly importantly the theory that cheap torpedo boats could be used for coastal defense instead of larger, more expensive ironclads.This strategy found favor in the "Reichstag" (Imperial Diet), which generally opposed expanding the naval budget.