"Is Nicholas dizzy? Now is this time to invite countries to an international peace conference? In his office in the Admiralty building in Whitehall, London, Fisher looked at Marchbanks with a surprised expression, and the expression on his face was undisguised: "You tease me?" "state of mind.

Marchbanks, of course, saw what Fisher was thinking, and said helplessly: "I'm not kidding, John, the Russian ambassador has already sent the invitation to His Excellency the Prime Minister, so this matter is absolutely true. ”

"What are the Russians thinking?" Now Fisher was even more surprised: "At this time, when a disarmament conference is held, who will take care of them?" The Russians still think that they are the third navy in the world? ”

"I think it should be related to the current situation of the Russian Navy, the Russian Duma has been making it difficult to rebuild the Navy, and the Navy has not been able to get funding, maybe it is for this reason that the Russians came up with such a solution, right?" Marchbanks guessed.

"What a farce, who would agree to such a naïve initiative?" Fisher said disdainfully: "Ah, maybe when the American fleet arrives in Japan, the frightened dwarfs may support it." ”

"But in any case, we must be present at this meeting, out of moral considerations and out of respect for His Majesty Nicholas himself." Marchbanks said: "This is what His Excellency the Prime Minister meant. ”

"Anyway, it's impossible to reach any consensus at such a meeting, and it's a waste of time." Fisher said contemptuously: "The Germans will not give up the advantage they have now, they have just started construction of four battleships, and I believe that they will continue to work on new ships next year, and it is simply impossible to disarm them at such a time."

And we are even less likely to bow to those Germans. And even Brazil ordered dreadnoughts from us, and Chile and Argentina will naturally start a new South American naval race. The United States cannot sit idly by and ignore the growth of South American naval strength, this is a chain reaction, and it is not at all something that the Russians can stop if they want to! ”

"You're right, John, but you know, we've had a big budget run into trouble to meet your requirements to start building six dreadnoughts, and there's a big gap in funding. So if the disarmament conference can be used to alleviate the financial pressure, then that is what His Excellency the Prime Minister would like to see. "The Russians want to buy themselves time, the French want to limit the Germans, and we may be able to force the Germans to make concessions," said Marchbanks with a smile. ”

"That's what Your Excellency the Prime Minister meant?" Fisher asked, saying that he was not optimistic about forcing the Germans to give up their existing advantages.

"That's what the Chancellor of the Exchequer meant, and both His Excellency the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary said they could give it a try." Marchbanks replied.

Fisher frowned slightly, if he could really curb the pace of German expansion, this would indeed be a good way, and the Royal Navy had a strong foundation, even if it made a little concession on the surface, it could still maintain its absolute superiority over Germany.

Fisher thought for a moment, and then said: "If the Royal Navy wants to defeat the Germans in a head-to-head confrontation in the North Sea, we will have at least 80 more dreadnoughts than the Germans." Naval warfare is extremely uncertain, and without absolute superiority, it is difficult to guarantee victory. Therefore, I think that in order to ensure the final victory of the Royal Navy, it is necessary to have a numerical superiority over the Germans by 80. ”

Fisher's request is simply a lion's mouth, it is true that the German Navy now has an advantage in the number of dreadnoughts, but it is an overwhelming disadvantage in the number of former dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers, and Fisher is also very aware of this gap in strength, but he does not want this gap to be recognized.

Therefore, the pre-dreadnought was deliberately ignored, as if with the appearance of the dreadnought, the pre-dreadnought ship class did not exist in the Royal Navy.

And Fisher was not satisfied with this, he loved invincibility more than dreadnought, but now the real threat of the Germans building a large number of dreadnoughts made his own view of abandoning battleships not supported at all, and the opinion within the navy was like that of Count Serborn who had told Fisher: "Battleships are necessary, just as they were 100 years ago." ”

So if you don't want to become a rebel, Fisher can't go his own way, but find all kinds of opportunities and excuses to increase the number of new armored cruisers, Fisher has never given up: "Of course, I think the number of new armored cruisers like the Invincible class should also increase, and the Germans have just finished the Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers, and the Germans surprised me again." After seeing the Deutschland-class battleships, I thought that the layout of the Scharnhorst-class was likely similar to that of the Deutschland-class, but the Germans used a new layout for their armored cruisers.

They began to use the same arrangement in the bow after the stern piggyback arrangement, so that the four main guns had a very good firing range, and in addition to ensuring the firing ability of the eight main guns on the side, they had the firing ability of four main guns in the forward and backward directions, which was slightly stronger than the Minotaur class.

And this design only has 4 twin turrets, which is very weight-saving, so I think it is much more protective than the Minotaur class, so we now have no armored cruisers to compete with the Invincibility class.

And the new armored cruiser that the Germans just started this year should be stronger than the Scharnhorst class, the Germans say that it is equipped with 10 9.4-inch naval guns, and I think it should be added to the middle of the hull with a twin turret, presumably with greater tonnage and better protection. As a result, we have only 3 Invincible classes, which will hardly meet the requirements of armored cruisers against the Germans.

Moreover, the 11-inch naval guns of the Germans were light in weight and technologically mature, and after knowing the real situation of the Invincible class, it should not be difficult to install 11-inch naval guns on the hull of the new armored cruisers that are now under construction. As a result, our superiority over armored cruisers will also be lost. ”

The more Fisher said that the face of Marchbanks was darker, and the number of dreadnoughts was 80 more? The number of armored cruisers continues to increase? What is the difference between this and the two strong standards? And the price of dreadnoughts is even more expensive, which not only does not reduce the financial pressure, but makes it worse!

"According to the current rate at which the Germans are starting construction of 4 battleships per year, more than 80 is the number of 7 battleships built per year, plus 1-2 armored cruisers, this is the capital ship of 8-9 per year, and our finances simply cannot support such a ship-building speed." Marchbanks said with an unkind face: "If it's more than 60, I think it's okay to fight for it." ”

"If it's just over 60, I can't guarantee that the Royal Navy will be victorious, so that the mainland of Great Britain will be exposed to the German naval guns!" Fisher categorically refused, and did not hesitate to be alarmist in order to achieve his goal: "And if we do not build such a battleship as invincible, the sabotage fleet of German heavy cruisers will greatly threaten our shipping lines!" ”

However, knowing that Marchbanks was now dissatisfied and wanted to give a proper explanation to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Fisher explained slowly: "We can reduce the number of old battleships, and eliminate the old pre-dreadnoughts and inferior second-class battleships, so that the size of our fleet is reduced, and we can save a lot of maintenance costs." At the same time, we can demonstrate our good faith in the disarmament conference. ”

In Fisher's eyes, like the old Sovereign-class first-class battleships, the Pafleur-class and prestige-class second-class battleships with small tonnage and firepower can be abandoned. Anyway, the Royal Navy had already reorganized its fleet and its power was shrinking, and the size of the colonial fleet was not as downsized, and there were not so many battleships needed, and these old ships and small ships could not be expected to go to the battle line and the Germans just head-on, so it was better to cut the funds for the replacement of dreadnoughts.

If it weren't for the fact that the Chinese fleet needed to retain a certain amount of strength to deter the Japanese Navy and protect the rights of the Far East, and the larger-tonnage first-class battleships were limited by the draft restrictions of China's ports and inland waterways, it would not even be possible to retain the old star-rated second-class battleship Fisher, which was less than 10 years old.

"These are new ships that are only about 10 years old, and you know that under normal circumstances, the Parliament, the Cabinet, and the Admiralty will not agree with you." Marchbanks said, shaking his head.

"However, if we can limit the speed at which the German Navy can build ships, then they will agree, because this is a special case." Fisher said with a smile.

"Even then 80 is still very difficult to achieve, not only financially, but also the Germans are unlikely to accept such a demand." Marchbanks was still very embarrassed.

"The number of capital ships of the Royal Navy is more than twice that of the Germans, and we started to talk at the beginning according to the proportion of the current number of capital ships, and let the Germans bargain little by little, even if the Germans are unwilling to accept us, we have nothing to lose, and we have shown our sincerity and made huge concessions, and the Germans do not accept it, then they oppose disarmament and insist on destroying the peace, and morality is on our side." Fisher smiled.

"Well, I'll give you your opinion back to Your Excellency the Prime Minister, and let them decide." Marchbanks looked at Fisher with some emotion, this stubborn, irritable, and unwilling to accept other people's opinions of the First Sea Minister is not just a hated old Qiu Ba, his political thinking is not bad at all, and the reason why his popularity is so bad is completely caused by his violent temper.

At the same time, the Germans, who were so painstakingly trying to use their support for disarmament to take advantage of their support for disarmament to take advantage of the moral high ground, were equally surprised by the whims of Nicholas II. R1152