Soon Scheer's report was also sent back to the country, but it did not have much impact in a short time, first of all, Germany is building the first batch of dreadnoughts, and His Majesty the Emperor's budget does not allow for the continued expansion of the number of capital ships of the Navy in a short period of time, not to mention, what submarine project will be added to the Navy now. The www.biquge.info army is not quiet, and Moltke has to build up armored forces after he returns, which is another amount of money. This made His Majesty the Emperor very troubled.

And Prince Ruprecht in Munich was also busy making money, because he knew that the Russo-Japanese War was about to start. 1903 at the earliest and 1904 at the latest, this was the last chance for the prince to make money from Russia....... At the same time, the work of the prince and Princess Mary in the creation of human beings must also be intensified. His father, the current King of Bavaria, Ludwig III, is urging him!

"It looks like the Russo-Japanese War is coming, and after it's over, it's World War I." Ruprecht muttered to himself as he looked out the window at the sky. The final combat readiness of the Second German Reich is approaching!

During this time, the prince was not going to do anything more. Because in his opinion, there was little room for the operation of the Russo-Japanese War. The warring parties were in the Far East, far from Europe. And it's all big corps battles. The two armies and millions of people are fighting on a large scale, and at this time, you send a small blue army up, and if you accidentally beat it directly, there is no ...... left. Not to mention the navy, neither the Russian nor the Japanese navy was provoked by the German Far East Fleet.

By the second half of 1903, the Japanese Navy would have a total of 8 battleships, including 2 second-class battleships, the Fuji and Yashima. These two battleships equipped with twin 10-inch guns were the earliest battleships of the Japanese, and although their performance was outdated, they were still in the first-line fleet because their speed was okay.

Then there were 2 Katori-class battleships and 2 Satsuma-class battleships. These four battleships were ordered one after another in 1898, the former with four 12-inch guns and four 10-inch secondary guns. And the firepower of the latter is 4 12-inch guns and 12 10-inch guns! The maximum armor thickness is 9 inches. The maximum speed is about 20 knots. And in 1901, the Japanese Navy decided that the number of its main fleet was still insufficient, so it added two more Satsuma-class battleships. And the two battleships named Hatsuse and Kashima became the third and fourth ships of the Satsuma class. This makes the prince, who is a traverser, have to sigh at the powerful inertia of history!

And on the part of armored cruisers, the Japanese also increased. Four Asama-class armored cruisers formed the main force, (Asama, Yakumo, Kasuga, and Asahi), and the captured Spaniard armored cruiser Carlos V was named Tsukuba. And in 1900, Japan also ordered a sixth armored cruiser from the British. This armored cruiser can be seen as the British version of the Asami, and its basic performance is similar to that of the German-made. The battleship was then named Sagami.

If nothing else, the Japanese Navy's pre-war capital ship battle group will be like this, and the main fleet consisting of 8 battleships and 6 large armored cruisers can almost be called the first fleet in the Far East! And in addition to the main fleet, the Japanese did not forget to build their own auxiliary fleet, according to the Japanese plan, by the second half of 1903, the Japanese Navy would have 4 cruisers of the 2nd class of 4000 tons and 6 cruisers of the 3000 tons class, plus 64 destroyers and torpedo boats. At the same time, there are also a number of notification ships and camouflaged assault ships. In general, this is a very balanced maritime strike force. And the age of the ships is very small!

At the same time, the Russians are also stepping up their fleet expansion! Among them, the most combative were naturally the four fast battleships ordered from the prince, and they were called the Rurik class, and the British also called them Rurik 2 in order to distinguish this class of battleships from the Rurik class in front of them. The four ships were Rurik, Russia, Grombowie and Warrior. These 4 powerful battleships were stationed in Vladivostok.

And the fleet of Arthur in this plane is relatively small, with only 3 old battleships, namely Petropavlovsko, Poltava and Sevastopol, as well as the Prince. A very important reason for this situation is that Russia spent a considerable part of its shipbuilding funds on ordering these four warships from Bavaria. According to the law of conservation of gold coins. Russia at this stage has only these 8 battleships in the Far East. The cruiser side is about the same as in history, this is because the Russians think that the size of their main fleet is enough, and some escort warships will do.

So what is it that makes the Russians so confident? The root cause was another fleet that would arrive in the Far East at the end of 1903! It was a huge fleet of 6 battleships and 2 armored cruisers. 4 of them are Borodino-class battleships, and the Borodino-class battleships of this plane are also somewhat stronger than in history, and on the surface they can be seen as a simplified version of the Rurik 2-class armored cruisers, but the Russians privately admit that they are very different from the original in terms of defensive area, watertightness and other hidden aspects.

The other two battleships were the older great Siyssos and Navarin, both of which, as in history, were armed with four 10-inch guns. And two armored cruisers were produced by the Americans for Russia at a discounted price! The two cruisers, which were named Varyag and Aurora, can be seen as the pinnacle of American armored cruisers.

The two ships were armed with 6 10-inch guns and 12 6-inch secondary guns in a central axis layout. It has an 8-inch main armor belt and a 6-inch upper armor belt, and uses a new steam turbine with a maximum output of 25,000 horsepower and a displacement of 12,000 tons. The maximum speed reached an astonishing 23 knots or more! Arguably the fastest warship of the warring sides! And in order to adapt to the winter freeze in Vladivostok, the two warships were also equipped with ice-breaking bows and reinforced. It is possible to sail in a sea of ice with thin ice.

Generally speaking, although the Russians are numerically smaller than in history, their combat effectiveness is far greater than that of the old warships in history, and the Russians' ability to build such a powerful fleet in a shorter period of time than in history is inseparable from the support of the Americans. The Americans provided Russia with at least $50 million in various loans and aid! It also undertook the construction of the Russian battleships Eagle and Borodino, as well as 2 armored cruisers and a number of other protective cruisers. The support of the Americans is just for the Russians to clean up the hateful Japanese!

Before this fleet reached the Far East, the Japanese navy had the advantage of crushing the class, but if it did, the Russians believed that the Russian fleet could easily crush their opponents under the command of Admiral Makanov!

The third is more present~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )