Armstrong was robbed of a large order of nearly 5 million pounds by the Germans and Americans, but it not only lost the face of a shipyard, but also the face of the entire shipbuilding industry of the British Empire.

However, the elites of the British Empire were not concerned with this, they were more concerned with analyzing the deeper information revealed by the German-American joint shipbuilding.

"Gentlemen, what do you think about the United States and Germany joining forces to obtain the Chilean Navy's order, and can it be seen as a deeper cooperation between the United States and Germany?" In the official residence at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Asquith frowned and looked sad.

No one immediately answered His Excellency the Prime Minister's inquiry, and the room fell silent for a while. No one dared to say that it was absolutely impossible, because this cooperation between Germany and the United States had never happened before. This is not a simple purchase relationship in which Germany takes the order and then the United States provides weapons, and the British have not done such a deal, not to mention far from it, let's just say that the armored cruisers ordered by the Greeks from Italy will not also come to Britain to install naval guns at that time.

However, the cooperation between Germany and the United States this time is all-round, not only the construction of the two ships has started in the two countries, but the various equipment in the various ships has also been provided by the two countries in cooperation, and the political color shown in this technically open cooperation model is too strong. As for the German-American union, this is something that the elites of the British Empire here absolutely do not want to see.

Although gentlemen with a long tradition look down on two hillbillies and nouveau riche, the power in the hands of these two nouveau riche is indeed feared.

"I think it's too arbitrary to judge the U.S. and Germany to move closer on the basis of this kind of cooperation alone." Foreign Secretary Gray was the first to break the silence, although he himself was a little uncertain, but after sitting in the position of Foreign Secretary for six years, Gray's experience in foreign affairs gave him an intuitive judgment on certain things.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, Gray slowly analyzed: "Although the cooperation between the United States and Germany is unusually close, this cooperation is based on the fact that both countries can only rely on each other's technical help. The Germans could not supply the 14-inch naval guns that the Chilean side needed. The Americans, on the other hand, had already lost the competition with Armstrong. If they don't join forces, then the £5 million order will necessarily belong to Armstrong.

Let's not talk about the damned Germans, they are now competing with Great Britain in any field, but the behavior of the Americans this time is purely a commercial act, and since the US Navy can come up with the design drawings of the battleships they are about to build in order to help the shipbuilding industry in their country, it is not unacceptable to cooperate with the Germans in this matter. ”

"But those hillbillies wanted to sell Germany the technology for the manufacture of 14-inch naval guns. And even invited them to jointly develop a new naval gun, how can this be explained? First Sea Secretary Wilson immediately retorted: "This level of technical cooperation cannot be explained by mere commercial practices!" No country's navy will casually let other people participate in the development of its own naval guns! ”

The Germans' refusal of the Americans' invitation caused much discussion in the U.S. Navy, so the news was quickly transmitted back home by the British military attaché.

This news was immediately taken seriously by the Royal Navy, and the sale of the latest naval guns was nothing, everyone was doing it, but the transfer of manufacturing technology was very rare, and it was impossible not to be a close ally. Now the Japanese were able to get the technology transfer from Vickers, and this was when the naval gun was not the standard naval gun of the Royal Navy. As for joint development, it is even more impossible. Therefore, the Americans took the initiative to make such a proposal, and the Royal Navy naturally took it as evidence of the alliance between the United States and Germany.

Gray explained slowly: "Americans have a low level of industrial manufacturing. All they can rely on is a huge scale of production and low labor costs, and they are far from being comparable to us in terms of quality, although the United States and Germany are now closely linked in trade and have a lot of technical cooperation, but this is only a means for them to solve this problem.

So far, the U.S. government has shown no inclination toward a U.S.-German alliance, knowing that it would be an enemy of Great Britain. And the agreements that we signed with the Americans on issues such as Panama and the Caribbean Sea to resolve disputes over these issues are not as big a problem between the Americans and us as they are with the Germans who occupied the Philippines. ”

Hearing Gray's analysis, Asquith nodded silently. After all, the Americans' ambitions for the Philippines are well known, and the British are well aware of the fact that the US Pacific Fleet almost had friction with the German Far East Fleet. If you exclude the commercial partnership between the United States and Germany. In fact, politically, Britain and the United States, which voluntarily withdrew from the Caribbean and conceded on the Panama issue, were closer to each other, of course, in the absence of any secret treaty between the United States and Germany.

"Edward has a point." Asquith began: "We really cannot do anything now that could provoke the Americans, and any action against the United States could lead to the United States really joining forces with Germany against us." ”

"Are we just going to do nothing? The Americans can now invite the Germans to jointly develop naval guns, then they can be invited to form a joint fleet later! Wilson shouted unwillingly.

"So what does the Royal Navy want to do? And the US Navy to resume confrontation in the Caribbean? Is the Royal Navy sure to confront the US and German navies at the same time? Asquith glanced at the unflattering First Sea Lord, a reckless disposition as Fisher could only cause trouble for Great Britain. It seems that it is imminent to find someone who is old and serious to replace him.

Although he didn't know that he was about to become the first sea secretary, Wilson did not back down in the face of the prime minister's questioning: "If our plan for a new battleship is approved, then even if we add a US Navy as an opponent, it will not be a problem!" ”

"Arthur, that's enough. The Admiralty hasn't made a final decision on this matter yet! "Secretary of the Admiralty McKenna sees that the situation is going to happen. Immediately spoke out to stop Wilson from continuing to argue with the Prime Minister.

However, this time it was too late. "And what are the plans for new battleships in the Navy?" Asquith immediately asked alertly. The construction of super-battleships with 13.5-inch guns has already put to naught the balanced finances promised by the Navy in the original election campaign, and now what new battleships does the Navy want?

"Well, this ......" McKenna squeaked a little: "There is no consensus within the Admiralty on this matter, and this plan is still under discussion." ”

The more McKenna was like this, the more worried Asquith became: "It's okay, you guys give me the bottom first, so that I can prepare." ”

"That's right. As you know, Sir, the Americans are about to build super battleships equipped with 14-inch naval guns, Germany and the United States are jointly preparing to build warships equipped with 14-inch naval guns for Chile, and we are also building warships equipped with 14-inch naval guns for Japan, and the 13.5-inch naval guns that we are developing now will no longer have an advantage, so there are calls within the Navy to develop naval guns of a larger caliber. McKenna said cautiously.

As soon as these words came out, Asquith's face immediately changed, and he wanted to develop a larger-caliber naval gun? The 13.5-inch naval gun has just begun to be developed, not long after! And now it's going to be developed with a larger caliber?! And it is clear that the so-called larger caliber here will not be 14 inches. So 15 inches? Or 16 inches?

Moreover, the cost of new ships equipped with 13.5-inch naval guns has also risen, so the price of ships equipped with larger caliber naval guns ...... Asquith didn't dare to think about it anymore.

McKenna, who had been observing Asquith's face, immediately noticed that His Excellency the Prime Minister's expression was ugly and frightening. He immediately explained: "This idea is still in the discussion stage, after all, we also understand that the development of a new naval gun is extremely risky and costly, so we are also cautious about this matter, and it has not been formalized until now." ”

The adoption of a new type of naval gun is a great risk for any country, especially since all countries are building battleships equipped with such naval guns at the same time as developing naval guns, and they are rushed into production after the successful development of naval guns without conducting long-term tests at all. Therefore, any failure in the development process will lead to the warship running out of guns, and eventually it will have to be replaced with lighter guns, which will affect the design balance and extend the construction period. Directly led to a significant lag in the naval race.

At the beginning, the Americans considered equipping the Utah-class battleships with eight 356-mm naval guns, but the U.S. Naval Ordnance Bureau calculated that if 356-mm naval guns were adopted. Even if the development of the naval gun went smoothly, the construction period of the battleship would be extended by 9 months, so the discussion on whether to equip the ship with 356 mm naval guns had to be focused on the next class, the Nevada class. Therefore, it is a blessing in misfortune that the Germans can directly use the turret of the triple 305mm naval gun when the development progress of the 380-mm naval gun is slow, so as not to slow down the construction progress of the battleship.

However, McKenna did not wait for Asquith to say that the Navy did not need to be discussed, and I stopped Asquith before I disagreed with such words: "Although the Admiralty will be cautious in this matter, we have to seriously consider the question of whether the Germans are also developing larger caliber naval guns." Are we ready to respond? ”

"It's impossible, the Germans don't have 14-inch naval guns at all now, otherwise how would they go to the Americans to cooperate?" Asquith asked.

"Your Excellency, this only means that the Germans could not come up with 14-inch naval guns before the Chilean warships were completed, and it does not mean that they were not developing 14-inch naval guns. The performance of naval guns has jumped dramatically, and various technical problems that are difficult to foresee in advance will arise. Mistakes in any one of these areas can lead to serious delays in the overall development schedule. It is quite possible that the Germans simply went wrong with the progress of the development of new naval guns.

After all, I find it hard to believe that Germany, which had been taking the lead in the construction of dreadnoughts, would remain indifferent after we announced the use of 13.5-inch naval guns. ”

McKenna was not wrong at all, but he guessed the caliber of the new naval gun developed by the Germans. (To be continued......)