The Rise of the Empire

"The Japanese are amazing!" Throwing away the pencil in hand, Makanov stood up and said. The news that the Japanese fleet occupied Samoa and took over the US Far East Fleet surprised the Russians. They really did not expect that the Japanese would be so crazy and move so fast. Not only will the Philippines be completely controlled, but it will also make it difficult for the Americans to return to Asia in the next 20 years.

"After this war is over, what we need to face is the five armored cruisers of the Japanese fleet. It is reported that the Spaniard's Carlos V was captured, and the damage suffered is within the repairable range. It won't take long , you can join the Japanese fleet." Roger Stvinsky said.

"The Americans are doomed to lose this war. They have no ability to return to Asia. It is hard to say whether Hawaii can even be kept. I said earlier that the Americans are unreliable. And we lost 2 armored cruisers for this country" Baltic Fleet Cruiser Major General Enkivis, the commander of the unit, said angrily.

"Okay, the Americans are out of the competition in the Far East, and now it's our turn to face the powerful armored cruiser formation of the Japanese. Tell us what you think." Makanov said with a sigh. The fundamental purpose of his return this time is to persuade the government to agree to the harsh conditions of the Germans in exchange for a more powerful warship than the Asama class.

The combat power of the Japanese fleet exceeded the expectations of the Russians. Who would have thought that in just three years, the Japanese navy would surpass the Russian and American Far East fleets in one fell swoop! It has become the largest naval force after the United Kingdom in the entire Pacific Rim region. This is the enemy of the Russian fleet in the future! Can the Russians be in a hurry?

"This war has changed East Asia too much. Today's Japan and pre-war Japan are completely two concepts. They have a colony that is even more abundant than the mainland. And it stuck us. We entered East Asia from the South China Sea Japan has sufficient strategic depth. Even if the mainland coast is harassed, the Philippines can still provide a certain amount of output for the empire. And because of the distance factor, if we want to strangle this country, it will be very difficult. , The voyage of the warship is an unavoidable problem." Roger Stvinsky said.

Although this buddy lost the battle of Tsushima in history, in all fairness, given the situation of the Russian fleet at that time, Nelson would not have won the battle. It was not easy for the Russian navy to complete the journey of tens of thousands of kilometers. You have to fight with a strong enemy who is waiting for work, it's no wonder you can win!

In terms of the future strategy of Russia and Japan, the Russians found that their situation became more severe. First of all, the first unavoidable problem is geographically! Russia has only two ports in the Far East, one is Vladivostok and the other is Lushun. The former port has limited facilities and is not a warm water port. The freezing period of several months every year is an eternal pain in the hearts of the Russians. There is no need for the Japanese to intervene. Nature blocked the fleet in the port!

The other Lushun Port is not much better. The internal environment of the port is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the narrow access passages are also suitable for the Japanese to block operations. And it's so close to mainland Japan! Once the war starts, the Japanese navy is likely to block the Russians near the coast.

What is the purpose of the navy? Whether it is a deadly confrontation with the opponent's fleet, destruction of the opponent's sea line of communication, or bombardment of the port, the root cause is to destroy the empire's use of sea passages. Guarantee your own control over the ocean. For the continental country Russia, the mobilization of troops can be guaranteed without sea transportation, which is a huge advantage over Japan, which must rely on sea transportation.

However, this huge advantage has now been greatly discounted. Lushun Port is too close to Japan, and it may be blocked if the war starts. If the fleet in the port is not strong enough, it will be the result of being blocked to death. As for the fleet coming out of Vladivostok, let alone being affected by the seasons, simply going from Vladivostok to the east coast of Japan is a challenge for the voyage.

According to the original plan, a battleship formation would be deployed at Lushun Port, while a cruiser formation would be deployed at Vladivostok. In the eyes of the Russians, it was the duel between battleships that determined the outcome of a naval battle. Cruisers are designed to provide cover for battleships and at the same time perform the task of breaking diplomatic relations at sea. Historically, most of the Russian cruisers were designed in this way, whether it was the Rurik with more than 10,000 tons or the domed warships such as the Aurora. But things are different now!

On the one hand, because Japan occupied the Philippines, the strategic depth undoubtedly expanded a lot. Existing cruisers can still make do with activities near the mainland of Japan, but if they want to destroy the transportation of the Philippines, they should sleep and sleep.... From Vladivostok to the Philippines, there is no port that can replenish coal along the way!

How does this embarrass the Russian cruiser? Even judging from the 2,000-ton coal loading capacity of the Rurik, it is a bit stretched. After all, you don’t end up running back and forth, and you can’t always sail at an economical speed. When you can get supplies at sea depends on your luck and the luck of the enemy. Do you have to fight the opponent several times at life and death speed! The voyage and endurance time calculated with a pen are extremely unreliable!

If the voyage problem can be barely dealt with by overloading or camouflaging supply ships at sea, then there is no way to beat the opponent! In combat at sea, the maximum speed of a battleship is often a good-looking theoretical data, which belongs to the kind of elusive.

Have you seen how many times the Essen fleet in the Russo-Japanese naval battle or the Spey fleet in World War 1 ran out of maximum speed? Bismarck may have escaped, but after KO Hood, his speed was also greatly affected. Therefore, even a warship that breaks at sea must have strong combat effectiveness, otherwise if it is caught by the opponent, it will die. What else is there to pay?

Moreover, the Japanese idea of ​​letting armored cruisers participate in the decisive battle of the battle line in the Sulu Sea naval battle also caught the Russians' eyes. "Fuck, so the armored cruiser is so powerful?!" The Russian navy is now envious and jealous of the four Japanese armored cruisers. If it is one ship, the Russians can bear it, but now, the Japanese have a total of 5 ships! The speed of the 5 ships can be compared to that of a first-class armored cruiser, and the firepower and protection are not at a disadvantage when compared with battleships!

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