The Rise of the Empire

"This is the meaning of the First Secretary of the Navy. He believes that what we need to do now is to further consolidate our numerical advantage. It is not enough to crush our opponents in terms of quality and quantity. The main fleet must have a strong enough Decisive battle capability, and our funds are limited, so apart from firepower and defense, the remaining performance can be sacrificed." Prince Louis said.

The British Royal Navy is actually a civilian system. As the military's Sea Lord, it is served by active officers of the Royal Navy. But the Sea Lord received civil restraint. That is to say, he is under the command of the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Navy can only be served by a civilian. This is why when the First World War broke out in history, Churchill could be the first Secretary of the Navy, while the British Royal Navy Marshal, Prince Louis Only the First Sea Lord.

Historically, when the British designed the Orion-class super-dreadnought battleship, they did consider increasing the speed of the battleship to more than 23 knots, but they had to give up because of cost issues. You make a dozen and try!

"In the future, our new super-dreadnought battleships will not be built with 1, nor will we build 4 or 5 ships. We may build three classes at once, a total of 12 battleships! The cornerstone. We must ensure the decisive battle advantage of the main fleet. What's more, there are very few high-speed warships built by the Germans, and all the battlecruisers under construction and under construction are no more than 4. Our current battlecruiser formation plus the future The super-dreadnought battlecruisers built were more than enough to overwhelm the Germans."

Prince Louis was far less radical than Fisher. He always advocated ensuring the number and combat effectiveness of fundamentalist battleships, and the First Lord of the Navy meant the same as him. Judging from the information collected so far, there are not many fast warships in the German fleet, and the Germans still focus on building the main fleet. Therefore, Prince Louis is naturally unwilling to choose an overly radical high-speed warship plan, but chooses a standard one. matching.

"Okay, but I will reserve my opinion." Fisher was very dissatisfied, but he knew that if he was not satisfied, he would be dissatisfied. When the Secretary of the Navy and the Second Sea Lord agreed, his own opinion was actually Not so important anymore.

"However, at least three of the new ultra-dreadnought battlecruisers must be built. This is the bottom line, an unchangeable bottom line!" Fisher said a little excitedly.

"Okay. Old man, take a long-term view. These 13.5-inch artillery battleships are just a transition for the Royal Navy. We will install larger-caliber artillery for our battleships in the future!" Prince Louis said.

"What do you mean?" Fisher frowned slightly and said.

"Do you know? According to our information, the Germans seem to be developing artillery with a larger caliber. They may install 350mm artillery for new warships, so the 13.5-inch artillery is just a stopgap measure. We need larger caliber artillery in the future. The number of warships built will not be less than that of the first generation of super dreadnoughts." Prince Louis said.

"Why didn't I know about this?" Fisher asked rhetorically.

"This was obtained through non-naval channels. Of course you don't know. As for the more powerful artillery, the First Secretary of the Navy also agrees very much, but this is a private statement, but the Secretary of the Navy has persuaded the Armstrong Gun Factory to start It will take up to 2 years to develop a new generation of large-caliber naval guns, and our future 15-inch naval guns can completely blow up enemy troops that appear on any sea level!" Prince Louis said proudly.

"Promise me, if that time comes, you must support my fast battleship plan!" Fisher said while shaking the prince's hand.

"Well, I will at least support you in building 5 fast battleships, okay?" Prince Louis said. Of course, he is just talking now, let's talk about how it will be then.

Coincidentally, when Ruprecht began to actively plan the German 15-inch artillery battleship, the British had already set their sights on bigger and stronger artillery when planning the 13.5-inch battleship! Although in terms of the pace of warships, Germany's super dreadnoughts appeared earlier than the British, and their performance is much better, but in terms of scale, the speed and vigor of the British Navy's construction of 6 capital ships a year is still beyond Germany's reach. of.

It is precisely because of this awareness that Ruprecht did not delay too long on the 14-inch class warships. After the news that the 15-inch large-caliber naval guns could be put into production as planned, the original seven 350MM The number of artillery carrying ships was reduced again, reaching 6 ships. At the same time, construction of the 15-inch artillery ship was started as soon as possible.

"I hope that in this plane, our Bavaria will not be much less than the Queen and R-rank of the British." Ruprecht wrote in his diary. In his plan, only the future 15-inch gun-carrying ship can really pose a huge threat to the British navy. At the same time, the most dangerous and terrifying enemy of the German navy is the upcoming Queen and R-class!

In this year, the British launched 6 super dreadnoughts with great fanfare in the following year, including 4 battleships and 2 battlecruisers. And began to actively prepare for the plan to carry the 15-inch artillery ship. At the same time, the construction of the German Navy's 350MM artillery battleship has come to an end, and the new super battleship is about to start. Generally speaking, the Germans are still one step ahead of the British.

"This is a competition between giants. Britain, the keeper of maritime supremacy for hundreds of years, has invested the resources accumulated by the British Empire for centuries in the navy in order to deal with the new challenger, the Germans. Huge financial resources and The world is amazed by the powerful shipbuilding capabilities. The British even wiped out the years of hard work of the Germans in one year. Compared with the speed at which the Germans start building 2 to 3 warships a year, the British are almost theirs. More than twice as much! The competition between the two sides seems to have decided the winner from the very beginning."

Even the German-leaning American media was taken aback by the frenzied preparations of the British. They believe that although the Germans have a first-mover advantage, the British are catching up too fast. They believe that if the war begins, the German fleet may only be half the size of the British.

Similarly, the Germans also realized that it is unreliable to kill opponents simply by fighting head-on, so whether it is the Kaiser, the German Navy, or Ruprecht are thinking of other ways to see if they can fight Look for a breakthrough point somewhere other than the German Navy! At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also began to build a navy, brought a slight turn for the situation.

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