"We must not allow the French to expand their navy so brazenly. In order to defend Libya's oil interests, we must take decisive action against French provocations, which is to build new battleships as well! ”

When Mussolini made this speech in the Roman parliament with provocative words, the fascists in the hall erupted in applause and cheers for a long time. Although Italy was also mired in the Great Depression and its industrial output and economic indicators were significantly lower than in 1929, the Italians decided to tighten their belts and devote their budgets first to the navy, inspired by the unbridled subject of sea power, a subject that could arouse their subjects in a frenzy for imperial glory. Unlike the situation in the historical plane, Fang Yan's concept of sea power has been deeply imprinted in Mussolini's heart a few years ago through books and face-to-face conversations; As a result, Mussolini was no longer satisfied with the plan of large-scale renovation of four old dreadnoughts, but began the planning of new capital ships earlier than in history.

As the leading shipbuilding company in Italy, Ansaldo has taken the lead in the development of solutions. After 7 years of close collaboration with the Brom Foss shipyard, Ansaldo's designers are now at the top of the planet: not only do they have excellent design techniques and subsystems, but they also have the slightest fallacy in the direction of the tech tree they are climbing!

Soon, a design with a very square style was placed in front of the top brass of the Italian Navy. The waterline of the case is 202 meters long, 31 meters wide, the standard displacement reaches 30,000 tons, and the maximum speed under the rated horsepower of 110,000 is more than 30 knots; The ship is equipped with two quadruple 381 mm L42 main guns and eight twin 120 mm L45 secondary guns, and has a range of 6,700 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots. From the outside, it is an enlarged German pocket Cruiser. There is hardly any difference except for the very different styles of the bridges. And its offensive and defensive performance has also achieved a crushing Weiling against the Dunkirk class that has just started construction in France.

Today, Ansaldo's work with Brom-Foss has long since learned the advantages of low-speed heavy bullets. This strike, designed to penetrate the horizontal deck, is especially suitable for preemptive strikes at long distances; And even the vertical protection of an enemy ship with a shell can rely on the weight of the shell itself and the speed of storage it brings. Impressive results. With the development of materials and metallurgical technology, the only disadvantage of the fragility of the heavy bomb body in the past no longer exists; The slender and slender special hood developed by Brom-Foss can greatly improve the storage speed performance of the heavy bomb on the basis of the original, making its vertical and horizontal penetration more powerful.

In addition, low-velocity heavy ammunition can reduce the weight and cost of weapon systems. Since the kinetic energy of the ejection of the cannon is proportional to the weight of the bullet and the square of the muzzle velocity, the ejection kinetic energy of the low-velocity heavy shell is smaller than that of the traditional high-speed shell. And the reduction of the kinetic energy of the emulate means a decrease in the length of the barrel of the gun. As a result, the weight of the gun itself, the supporting turret mechanism, the bezel armor, and the supporting structures will be saved accordingly. This is obviously a beneficial and harmless situation for the design and cost period of the ship.

The 381 mm L42 naval gun, which is planned for the current program, is the product of this idea. It fires 885kg shells at a muzzle velocity of 725 m/s, and weighs only 84 tons per gun, which is nearly a quarter lighter than the L50 long-barreled gun in the historical plane. The low ejection kinetic energy also gives the gun excellent barrel life, and the design value of 340 rounds is more than 2.5 times that of the L50 cannon. This kind of multiplier with half the effort is the best embodiment of climbing the technology tree, and the historical tragedy of Veneto's waste will never be repeated in this plane.

Weight savings due to low muzzle velocity and quadruple turrets. Although the ship is a high-speed ship of only 30,000 tons, it has also been able to lay solid and perfect protection. The main armor belt arranged at 20 degrees of inclination was up to 320 mm thick. The total height is also 5.7 meters, the main gun mount is 350 mm armor, and the front of the turret is 400 mm. It is worth mentioning that the armor in these three places is not an ordinary single-layer arrangement, but consists of an outer layer of 70 mm + an inner layer of 250 to 330 mm, and between the two layers of armor is filled with 250 mm of foamed cement.

When shells hit, thinner outer layers of armor and foamed cement. Able to peel off the hard quilt cap on the front of the shell; After that, the shell body that has lost its cap is crushed by the thicker inner layer of armor. Since the shell is exposed to the hardened armor at a large angle, it is necessary to rely on the cap to break through the hardened layer and straighten the body of the projectile in order to achieve effective penetration, so the hardened armor of the inner layer will undoubtedly become an insurmountable barrier for the incoming shell. This armor layout. It is the perfect means of protection that the Italians have summed up after countless explorations and experiments; Its use makes the ship's vertical defense almost indestructible, compared to the Yamato-class battleships of the historical plane!

In terms of horizontal deck and underwater defense, the ship was also strongly influenced by Fang Yan. It had 40 mm of open-deck armor and was intended to be extremely avant-garde against bomber bombs; Underneath it, there is another 150 mm of main horizontal armor in the core compartment and stern of the ship, which firmly protects important equipment. The ship's TDS defense did not adopt the flashy Plesey system, but chose a layout with a total average thickness of 120 mm, relying on the air-liquid-air staggered outer compartment division and a large depth of 5.5 meters to take into account the defense against torpedoes and underwater bombs. In order to protect the buoyancy of the reserve, the ship also laid a thin 60-mm armor in the bow and tail area, which occupies 44% of the length of the waterline, which can withstand direct fire from shrapnel and destroyer guns.

For this thing that Ansal did for the Navy, the latter felt extremely like a boat. The standard row of the ship is only 30,000 tons, which can not only save the country the notoriety of provoking a vicious arms race, but also please the government at a relatively low price, so as to ensure that it can get enough money to build it. What's more, the ship can fully meet the operational needs of the Italian Navy, and even the British 42,000-ton Hood will be overshadowed in front of it!

In view of the displacement, firepower, power and other paper data of the ship, which are quite similar to the Caraccino-class battleships that were not completed in Italy 10 years ago, the ship took this name and soon received two construction grants, "Caraccino" and "Corona". Along with the budget for two "Bolzano"-class heavy cruisers, the Italian Navy is currently two short of reaching the same lineup as the French. Although more than $80 million was poured out like water, the Italian government, which was empty, still thought it was worth the money: today, Libya's proven oil reserves have reached 1.5 billion tons, and this big fat meat must not be lost!

Fang Yan's long-awaited competition of two strong capital ships in the Mediterranean finally began in early 1931.

France and Italy in southwestern Europe are pitting each other, and the giant red bear in the northeast has also awakened from hibernation. In December 1930, the Red Navy held an unprecedented commissioning ceremony for three large ships that were completed almost at the same time; The brand-new and bright battleship Frunze, together with the two heavy cruisers Sverdlov and Dzerzhinsky, raised the gold star flag on a red background amid the cheers of the crowd and officially joined the battle sequence of the Baltic Fleet. After more than three years of construction, the Union Shipyard finally delivered the warships it had ordered to the impatient Red Navy. Looking at the majestic steel sea beast in front of him, Stalin, who was present to watch the ceremony, only felt that he was so excited that every pore seemed to be about to open; There is nothing that can better set off his wisdom and greatness in the rule of Soviet Russia than a behemoth that can be seen and touched!

Although Fang Yan hacked the Russians in terms of specific technology, in the strategic field, Stalin's intentions had already been achieved. The Frunze, with a standard displacement of 30,000 tons, is equipped with four twin 356 mm L52 main guns and has a sea trial speed of more than 25 knots; This kind of warship is not only unique in the Baltic Sea, but even the whole world is difficult to find that can suppress its existence in all indicators. The two heavy cruisers with a standard displacement of 14,000 tons also have more combat effectiveness than Western treaty cruisers. This greatly increased the power of the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea, and while guarding the country, it also became capable of sending troops to support the weak Black Sea Fleet.

For Russia, the Black Sea direction will always be at the heart of their strategy. Although the waters are closed, it is a precious ice-free port in all of Russia: in winter, this is almost the only place left for Russia to maintain contact with the rest of the world. In addition, Russia and the Balkan states surrounding the Black Sea are inextricably linked by ethnic, religious, and economic interests; In the heart of every Slav, it is even more important to occupy Istanbul and open the Bosphorus-Dardanelles Strait into the "warm ocean" of the south. Although so far, Soviet Russia and Turkey, both victims of the Versailles system, have always had good relations, but geographical and historical factors have made both sides absolutely have their own ghosts, and neither will give real trust to the other.

At present, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has only one Red Caucasus, a converted old unfinished cruiser, that can be driven: it has a standard displacement of 7,650 tons, a speed of 29.5 knots, and is armed with four 180-mm guns. Such shabby strength is obviously far from enough. You must know that before the outbreak of the revolution, the Russian Black Sea Fleet had 2 dreadnoughts and 3 dreadnoughts, and it was absolutely invincible in the Black Sea! (To be continued.) )