"Your Excellency, Prime Minister! The Germans are already preparing to build super-dreadnoughts with 350 mm guns, and you are still hesitating about next year's Navy budget, I don't know what exactly you are hesitating about?! Churchill asked with an imposing standing in front of Asquith.

"You were opposed to the Royal Navy's request for a new battleship, Winston." Asquith looked at Churchill and frowned.

"Yes, I was against it, but at that time I didn't know how much of a threat the Royal Navy was facing now, and I didn't know what the Germans were planning to build a super-battleship." Churchill responded with a pride in his bearings.

"I think you weren't the Lord of the Admirals then, were you?" Lloyd's on the side? George thought, of course, he didn't dare to say it openly.

Asquith looked at Churchill, who had opposed the Royal Navy's superbattleship program a few months ago, with a complete opposite attitude. I thought that this loyal ally could help him withstand some of the pressure from the Royal Navy after becoming Lord of the Navy, but I didn't expect this guy to defect not long after taking office, and he was caught off guard by the 720-degree change in attitude (I'm really not sarcastic about someone who says that there is a 360-degree difference in attitude).

The ass decides the head, and Churchill doesn't care how much of a psychological shadow his defection will bring to Asquith. As Lord of the Admiralty, his political capital can only be taken from the Navy, so what could be more remarkable than exposing the conspiracy of the German Navy to make the Royal Navy stronger? As for the 720-degree change in attitude, will people feel hypocritical? The people are forgetful, and the faces of politicians are bulletproof.

"Threats? The Germans reduced the number of capital ships that started this year! And their navy saved nearly 300 people on the Titanic not long ago! Now even the newspapers that want to make big news all day long have to change their tune, and this year's Olympics in Berlin will be a great time to ease the current tensions between Britain and Germany, so don't take the initiative to cause us trouble! ”

As for what Churchill wants to do, Asquitha is clear, this year it is rare for the Germans to take the initiative to reduce the number of new capital ships to three, and at this time the British government does not want to strain the relationship between Britain and Germany too much every day. If it hadn't accidentally gotten away and led to a direct breakdown in the relationship between the two countries, it wouldn't be what I wanted to see. However, everyone has been unhappy before, and they can't find a chance to loosen the strings, but now it is rare for the Germans to loosen the strings first, and at this time there must be no more moths. There is tension and relaxation, confrontation and cooperation, and this is a good relationship between major countries.

"How can the Germans be so kind? His Excellency Haldane went to talk to them in person before, but no agreement was reached! The Germans were on the condition that if we allied with them, they would reduce the number of capital ships. And in the absence of an agreement between the two sides, there is only one possibility that the Germans will take the initiative to reduce the number of new ships, and that is that they are ready to improve the performance of individual ships! Therefore, the cost of a single ship has increased and the number has to be reduced! We can even guess that these Germans had this idea in mind when they negotiated with His Excellency Haldane! After we have formed an alliance with them, they can continue to build capital ships that are more powerful than us! At this time, Churchill did not mention his previous argument that Germany's economy could not be supported. But Churchill guessed correctly, and Jochen had the idea in the first place.

"The news that the Germans are about to build super-dreadnoughts with 350-mm naval guns is not confirmed at all!" Asquith retorted, "Don't think I don't know those little tricks! Winston, those guys in the Royal Navy will fabricate the performance of other countries' ships in order to build stronger ships until they can't build them at all, and then we'll have to spend a lot of money to build some big guys that we can't use at all! Asquith retorted.

The Royal Navy has a long history of touting the performance of enemy ships, and as early as Nelson's time, the Royal Navy believed that the French were better warships than their own. In the 18th century, the "bounty" system in the navy allowed the Royal Navy to reward captains who won 1v1 battles. As a result, it has become customary to exaggerate the performance of opponents to show their mettle. The good performance of the captured French warships in the Royal Navy convinced the British that their enemies were better at shipbuilding than their own.

Of course, the officers of the navy did not listen to the complaints of the shipyard engineers that the construction of French ships did not meet British standards at all, and they did not care about the cost of retrofitting these ships to meet the standards of the Royal Navy.

And this vice has continued. Throughout the 20th century, this kind of touting opponents was not uncommon. In the 30s, the British Naval Intelligence Director questioned why the Treaty Heavy Cruiser of the Director-General's own treaty was inferior to the Japanese Furutaka class in all aspects. And the rebuttal of the shipbuilding director is that either the data you provide is fake, or the Japanese use cardboard to build ships. Even in the 80s, the Royal Navy's blind admiration for the design of Soviet ships was even more absurd.

Of course, Asquith doesn't know what happened in the future, and here Asquith is referring to the two world's largest protective cruisers in his own navy, the Qiangsheng-class, but they are also the most useless things. They were built in the first place because the Navy exaggerated the performance of the Russian-built Rurik (1st Generation) armored cruiser. The result? The performance of the Rurik in the Russo-Japanese War and the advent of the era of armored cruisers proved that this investment of the Navy was completely wasted.

But Churchill naturally came prepared, and he didn't need to pay attention to that kind of old account, he had enough evidence! "The Germans said that the new ships that were about to start construction would be more powerful than the Helgoland-class that had been built before! If the East Prussian-class that has already been launched and the new warships that started construction last year are both improved versions of the Helgoran-class, the performance gains are limited. So how can a new battleship be called more powerful? Are those Germans going to want to put 7 turrets on their ships like the Brazilians?! And after we have already started construction of 6 ships equipped with 13.5-inch naval guns, the Americans began to build 14-inch battleships with naval guns. And when the Germans themselves were building battleships with 14-inch guns for the Chileans, do you think those Germans would really build monsters with 21 12-inch guns? There is no second possibility, except for arming ship guns of a larger caliber! ”

It is impossible for Germany not to be moved at a time when everyone is building super-dreadnoughts, and it is completely plausible logically. Of course, Churchill continued to selectively forget that he was against this logic in the first place.

Of course, the German side's brazen statement that it wants to build stronger warships this time has also been carefully considered. Indeed, as Churchill said, it is illogical that Germany did not react at all when everyone in Britain and the United States was building super-dreadnoughts. And Germany cannot say that it has always built warships that have not improved their performance. It is always necessary to make it stronger and stronger, so it is better to announce it ambiguously and let the British guess than to hide it.

And considering that the performance of the MK1 406 mm naval guns equipped by the British on Nelson has not improved much compared with the performance of the MK1 381 mm naval guns, even if the British want to equip the Queen Elizabeth class with 406 mm naval guns, it will not necessarily help much to improve the performance.

However, in order not to cause too much trouble in 1912, which was stable and peaceful. The German side still used a veiled propaganda about the specific performance of the new ship, and sure enough, the Royal Navy thought of a 350 mm caliber that was slightly larger than its own 343 mm naval gun.

Of course, the Germans were going to build a bigger pipe than their own, which immediately poked the G-spot of the Royal Navy, and the 15-inch naval gun battleship project, which was originally only in the discussion stage, immediately moved from the discussion stage to the funding stage. Helping the navy get this funding is a great achievement, and the newly appointed minister of the navy naturally has to fight (entangle) according to the (nonsense) (stirring) (barbarism) (brutality).

"Winston, the cost of four battleships and one battlecruiser equipped with 13.5-inch guns approved for construction this year is more than 9.7 million pounds! If we want to build the super battleship you are talking about, we simply can't come up with that much money! Asquith watched this guy with a face like a city wall come up with the ultimate killer idea, no money!

With the Lion-class, armed with 13.5-inch guns, nearing completion, the Royal Navy decided to change the name to the Battlecruiser as a £2 million First Class Battleship and as the largest ship to be commissioned in the Royal Navy. Asquith also thought that this was a better way to explain the high cost to the Parliament, so he changed his tune early.

"No, Your Excellency, you don't understand the value of this kind of warship across the ages!" Churchill was a little excited, after all, he was involved in the whole process when the design indicators were formulated, so now he wants to show off in front of the prime minister, as for whether it was because McKenna despised the reason why he wants to save face now, it is unknown: "We are still continuing to build battleships and battlecruisers, and the tasks between the two ships are difficult to interchange." And such a ship was not the ideal ship that Sir Fisher had wanted. Sir Fisher wanted a ship that would combine the best of both worlds, and the plan for such a fusion ship was rejected. Now we just need to build a type of ship that can replace battleships and battlecruisers! A high-speed battleship armed with a 15-inch gun and a speed of 25 knots! Although the cost of a single ship has increased, this type of battleship can perform the mission of two ships! The cost is much higher than that of battleships that can only be nested in the harbor in normal times! (To be continued.) )