Chapter 88: naval arms race
"Gentlemen, I have received the authorization from the cabinet. Now that the Germans have overtaken us in terms of new battleships, the Royal Navy must speed up the construction of new battleships, catch up and regain the advantage over the German navy. ’” At the Naval Conference, Sir John Fisher was in high spirits.
The full support of the cabinet made him no longer have to worry about the shortage of military expenditures. Huge financial allocations allowed the Royal Navy to quickly build the battleships they wanted.
"Your Excellency, although we can speed up the construction of warships. However, the 343mm main gun has not yet made breakthrough progress. Therefore, the construction of the next-level battleship may still be unable to start." A British admiral Said.
"It doesn't matter, we can complete the design first. I believe that the arsenal will soon be able to make a breakthrough. The technological accumulation and heritage of the British Empire will not be inferior to the Germans." John? Sir Fisher is full of confidence in his own technological level.
Yes, the current British Empire is not the United Kingdom that clings to the thigh of the American emperor in later generations, but a superpower that dominates the world. Their technological level is also ahead of the world. In the eyes of these European powers, the current U.S. emperor is nothing more than a sudden rise of nouveau riche. Although the industrial strength is very strong, but there is no technical content. In terms of high technology, especially military technology, there is undoubtedly a big gap compared with European powers.
"Yes, sir." The admiral nodded.
"Your Excellency, if the 'Bellerophon-class' battleship speeds up, it is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. Can the next-level 'Saint Vincent-class' battleship be built now?" A navy department is in charge of shipbuilding asked the official.
Sir John Fisher hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Let's start the construction of the 'St. Vincent-class' battleship immediately. Once the design of the follow-up battleship is completed, the construction will start immediately. Now, we need the fastest Speed to enrich the Royal Navy, and strive to have a powerful fleet composed of dreadnoughts in the shortest possible time.”
Although, Sir John Fisher can judge from the information obtained that the new battleships that the German Navy is about to serve are stronger than their "Dreadnought" battleships, and even the "Bellerophon-class" battleships under construction cannot keep up. Even the follow-up "Saint Vincent-class" battleship is probably not its opponent. But now the Royal Navy has no other choice. Under the constraints of technical bottlenecks, it is almost impossible for them to launch a more powerful new battleship. Only those battleships that made minor improvements to the battleship 'Dreadnought' could be built. Strive to form an overwhelming advantage over the German Navy in terms of the number of new battleships. In this case, the Royal Navy can also gain an advantage in naval competitions.
This also allowed the British Navy to build four classes of nine battleships in a row on the basis of the battleship "Dreadnought", namely three "Belle Luofeng class" battleships, three "Saint Vincent class" battleships, and one "Neptune class" battleship. ' battleship and two 'Giant class' battleships. Adding the three "Invincible-class" battlecruisers and three "Indefatigable-class" battlecruisers, the Royal Navy has a total of 15 new capital ships.
Of course, these are battleships with a displacement of about 20,000 tons and equipped with 305mm main guns. Compared with the battleships with strong defenses of the German Navy, these battleships of the British Navy are undoubtedly capital ships with thin skin and big stuffing. Once a war starts, it will be very common to be blown up in a naval battle.
When the British Navy accelerated the construction of new warships, other countries were also affected. Although, the current British Empire is still a well-deserved maritime hegemony. But other countries, more or less, have their own ideas about sea power. Although there is no way to compete with the British Empire, you must be able to protect your own overseas interests! Otherwise, how can the overseas colonies be kept? Therefore, all countries have also strengthened the construction of the navy one after another, and launched new battleships one after another.
The United States on the other side of the ocean gave up the construction of the former dreadnought ship and began to build the dreadnought ship. However, because of the gap between technology and Europe, the U.S. Navy chose the strategy of emphasizing firepower and defense and giving up the speed of the turtle warship. Moreover, only two capital ships of each level were built, trying to use small steps to make breakthroughs in new battleships.
From the "South Carolina-class" battleships to the subsequent "Delaware-class" battleships, "Florida-class" battleships, and "Wyoming-class" battleships, the U.S. Navy will start building two new battleships every year. Starting from the later "New York-class" battleships, the caliber of the main guns has been increased from 305 mm to 356 mm. It can be seen that the Americans have ambitions in sea power.
After becoming the largest industrial country in the world, the ambitions of Americans have also increased. They hope to have a higher status on the international stage. It would be great if it could take advantage of the trend to replace Britain and become the world's hegemon. Of course, Americans also know that this is very difficult. So they are accumulating their own strength little by little, waiting for changes in the world pattern.
France, as a traditional power in Europe, is also a naval power. Hundreds of years ago, it was even the main challenger of the British Empire's maritime supremacy. After countries have entered the era of dreadnoughts one after another, the French are naturally not far behind.
Although, France's biggest enemy now is Germany from land. However, France, which has vast colonies overseas, still gritted its teeth and began to design their "Dandon-class" battleships. Moreover, the construction of six battleships of this class started at one time. It's just that France always needs to put its main force on land to ensure that the army can withstand the German attack. Therefore, the investment in the ocean naturally cannot be compared with other countries. Although the French were not reconciled, they had no choice but to withdraw from the first echelon of sea power.
Italy and Austria-Hungary, as members of the Allied Powers, allies of Germany. When the Allied Powers began to build dreadnoughts one after another, they were not far behind. The design of the battleship 'Dante' equipped with 12 305mm main guns for the Italian Navy began. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was also not far behind, and began designing a "United Force-class" battleship equipped with four triple-mounted 305mm main guns.
