Chapter 354: Fearless prelude!

"Huh?! What are you talking about? The next generation of battleships? You have a new expansion plan?" Ferdinand's eyes shone. As a naval supporter, his interest in the navy can be described as fanatic! You know, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has two parliaments, and a resolution needs to be passed by both the Austrian parliament and the Hungarian parliament to be effective. The rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire actually did not pay much attention to the navy. The Kingdom of Hungary had no interest in the navy, and Emperor Fritz had the same attitude toward the navy!

Before 1901, the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy did not even have a warship over 7000 tons! Compared to the Italian next door, that is simply silk! But in this extremely unfavorable political situation, our Crown Prince Ferdinand was able to unite with other forces to start building 3 Radez-class battleships in 1907, and then started construction of 4 Joint Force-class battleships! If it were not the reason for World War I, another four Lord Loudoun-class battleships could also be built. This perseverance and persistence are admirable....

Of course, the prince still has this opinion. There is no need for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to start the construction so early. On the one hand, it is a waste of money. On the other hand, it is estimated that the funds cannot be approved... Without the stimulus of the launch of the dreadnought, it is estimated that the Austro-Hungarian government will not be able to make a big decision for a while.

The prince still revealed the news to Crown Prince Ferdinand to prepare for the next wave of naval gun tenders for the German Navy. Although the 12-inch l40 naval gun has made the prince a lot of money, Krupp will not wait and die. , The Prussian military-industrial group headed by Krupp will not sit still. After the completion of the construction of the battleship Caesar Frederick the Great, when the prince was preparing for Germany, or the world's first dreadnought ship, the abominable capitalists thought they had found an opportunity...

Under the great pressure of Bavarian Southern Industries Group and the temptation of the huge interests of the naval gun business, Krupp finally decided to climb the science and technology tree. According to internal sources, they have begun to establish a project and are preparing to develop a new type. 12-inch l45 naval gun! In order to regain the lost market in the new dreadnought competition.

To be honest, the last time the prince took the order was a bit tricky. The whole process can be described as plagiarism. Basically, it is to take the Russian naval gun, and then the Skoda factory is changed. But this time is different. Although Krupp's 12-inch naval gun has been used for thousands of years, it must be admitted that Krupp's 12-inch l50 artillery is really good. It can shoot a 405kg shell with a muzzle velocity of 855 meters!

From the paper data, this artillery is at least not weaker than the British and American 12-inch artillery of the same period. And to truly stabilize the 12-inch gun of this artillery, I am afraid that only the k10 12-inch l45 artillery produced by Skoda. In terms of the basics, the Bavarian Southern Industries Group is definitely not as good as the old fritters in the north.

Therefore, he could only give the task of designing this artillery to the Austrians, hoping that they can quickly get this artillery out! Historically, the transition from fearless to ultra-fearless firepower has taken a long time. In 2006, the first dreadnought was in service, but it took 12 years to have the first super dreadnought in service... The firepower upgrade from 14-inch level to 15-inch level is only less than 3 years!

Taking into account that the era of fearlessness opened in advance, the German Navy's major construction is about to begin! The Kaiser and the German Navy have endured for many years, and it is quite difficult for the prince to reduce the number of German pre-dreadnoughts from 2 dozen to 6 in history! You must know that in history the Germans started from Brandenburg and built a total of 24 pre-fearless ships of 5 levels! The Nassau class was launched when the last former Fearless was in service...

Let's calculate it on the basis of a former fearless ship of 1.1 million pounds. The prince saved the German government more than 20 million pounds. (Including maintenance expenses) You must know that the sale of naval armor in Bavaria is a huge income. In order to save Germany some money, the prince has paid a huge amount...

"Skoda is responsible for the artillery design, and then Bavaria and Austria have half of the production capacity. We split the profit equally. What do you think?" The conditions offered by the prince cannot be said to be unreasonable. Basically, Austria is responsible for research and development, and Bavaria is responsible for the market. Long collaboration. Of course, this is only the profit of artillery. The design and construction of the turret still accounted for the majority of Bavaria. After all, this difficulty is less than that of artillery.

"Do you want to design new battleships? How many?" Crown Prince Ferdinand did not answer immediately, but asked rhetorically. Now, he has quickly transformed from a prince to a businessman, and began to calculate his own gains and losses. If the sale is relatively small and it is difficult to share the R&D expenses, then he has to reconsider this profit sharing. At least part of the R&D funding must be paid by Bavaria.

"Our future battleships and large cruisers will use 12-inch naval guns. The number of the former may be 2 to 3, and the latter is estimated to be this number." The prince thought for a while and said.

"So when will these warships start and when will they be completed?" Ferdinand asked again.

"It should be started in 1902, the construction period may be 2 to 3 years, and all the work should be completed in 1905 to 2006! Of course ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ this is only my personal plan. The prince replied.

Regarding the number and duration of the first batch of warships, the prince has carefully considered it. This is not a brainstorm. Although the prince knows the value of the dreadnought, the appearance of the dreadnought sharply depreciates the value of the former dreadnought, but the difficulty of construction is also not In history, the British’s fearless displacement reached 18,000 tons.

But in fact, this tonnage is not enough for a warship that is well-defended and has good protection from naval guns and torpedoes. According to the Prince’s estimation, a dreadnought ship equipped with about 10 12-inch l45 guns should be Around 22,000 tons. 12-inch side-string armor, 3-inch horizontal armor, plus better tds, these need tonnage support,

Now the largest warship built by the German Navy has a displacement of 15,000 tons, and then jumped directly to 22,000 tons... The prince also felt a little suspense!

This is still the construction of battleships. Technical and engineering matters have already put pressure on the German industry. Battlecruisers are more difficult because battlecruisers have higher requirements for speed. If battleships can be mixed with kerosene, If the boiler and the steam engine make do, then the battle cruiser must use the steam turbine, otherwise it is really difficult to reach a speed of 25 knots... It can even be described as vague.

Today’s chapter was posted in advance, so I can only thank the book friends who voted in the future~~~, and the second one is here~~~ Seeking subscription~~~! ! !