"Krylov, Nikolai told me just now that the French are willing to give us information on their latest Belleville boilers, and I have heard that there are different voices in the Naval Technical Committee about the use of British boilers on our new battleships, what do you think about this?" Nicholas II asked Admiral Krylov, chairman of the Naval Technical Committee, who had just entered the room and had not yet opened his mouth to greet His Majesty the Tsar.

His Majesty's inquiry made Krylov stunned, this question came too suddenly, and he was a little caught off guard, he was just here today to routinely report to the anxious Tsar's Majesty Xià on the design progress of the new battleship. Usually, His Majesty the Tsar listens to his own report, and then routinely urges himself a few words, but this time he asked such a question as soon as he came up, making him very passive.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the power group within the Technical Committee is indeed opposed to the use of the Englishman's Yarrow boiler in place of the traditional Belleville boiler." Krylov replied cautiously, while his mind raced to find out how to better deal with the moody Tsar: "The power team believes that our navy has always used the Belleville boiler and is very familiar with the technology and maintenance of this boiler, so even if the new battleship is slower, we should choose the more reliable Belleville boiler, but this idea was rejected by me. ”

"Oh? Why was it vetoed? Nicholas II raised his eyebrows, the new dreadnoughts to be built are now Nicholas II's main concern, this is the first step in the re-establishment of the great Russian Navy, so he will never allow any problems, and now Krylov vetoes a sound and sounding sound, and if Krylov cannot give himself a satisfactory answer, he, the chairman of the technical committee, will be the end. Although Nicholas II seemed to have forgotten about it, just a few minutes ago he had dismissed the technology provided by the French as worthless.

Krylov also knew that if he didn't answer well, he could be in trouble. He immediately replied, "Your Majesty, although the power team thinks a slightly slower speed is acceptable, but John of England? Brown Brown technicians told us that, if enough steam was supplied, our turbines would produce 44,330 horsepower, enough to propel our warship to a speed of 23 knots, without any modifications. This figure is much larger than the 21.5 knots we had originally expected at 31,500 horsepower, so I don't think an overly conservative choice is advisable with such a significant gap. ”

Seeing that Nicholas II's face seemed to be pleased with the news, Krylov continued: "The pool tests of the British proved that their conclusions were feasible, and the final vote at the expert meeting of the Technical Committee was that the British Alor boiler should be chosen, and I think that even if the French were willing to provide their latest Belleville boiler, the watch would not be better than the Yarrow boiler, and the choice of the French boiler would probably be unpleasant to the British." Thereby affecting the progress of the design of our new battleships. ”

Although this is well founded, Krylov would never accuse Nicholas II of using his power as chairman of the Technical Committee to manipulate the meeting. Krylov, as chairman, had the right to invite "experts" to the meeting, so he contacted the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Essen, and asked him to summon a group of engineering officers who supported the Yaro boiler and let them attend the meeting as "experts".

Essen, who had experienced the Russo-Japanese naval war and was already extremely important to the speed of the battleship, was very willing to cooperate with Krylov's little tricks, so the results of the meeting were self-evident.

However, Krylov's explanation was apparently accepted by Nicholas II. He nodded in satisfaction and praised, "You made the right decision. The higher speed will allow us to better shoot positions in battle, and then sink the enemy with powerful firepower in one fell swoop. And now to change the type of boiler will affect the start of construction of our battleships, right? Leave the boilers of the French to themselves.

Well, my general, when will the start of construction of our new battleship? ”

"Your Majesty, the blueprints taken out by the Baltic Shipyard have been sent to England, by John? Brown checks. So far, no feedback has been received from the British side, the Baltic Shipyard believes that the British side should have no objections, the technical committee has accepted the design, and we plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in mid-June. Krylov replied that he was also looking forward to the revival of the Russian Navy. But there is still a huge obstacle to the great revival of the Russian Navy.

"Your Majesty, if you have a qiē shun lì, the construction of the new warship will definitely be completed within 4 years, but now we have temporarily obtained 30 million rubles using the provisions of the budget law, and we can only let these 4 warships start construction first, but this fund may only support the construction cost of 4 warships for about 1 year, and if the Duma cannot approve the follow-up construction funds, our project progress will be severely affected." Krylov was a little worried.

The General Staff of the Navy, of course, will not be satisfied with the construction of only 4 new dreadnoughts. The plan to equip the Baltic Fleet with a full detachment of 8 dreadnoughts and 4 armored cruisers has long been prepared to be submitted to next year's Council of State for approval, and His Majesty the Tsar will not oppose it.

But now even the four battleships in front of them are using the budget law to deal with the start-up funds obtained by changing the method, and it is still a question whether the Duma will agree to the follow-up funds, let alone the new plan.

30 million rubles, which seems to be a lot, if it was placed in the past, it was enough to build 3 battleships, and the Peresvet-class pre-dreadnoughts cost only 11 million rubles each, but the hull, power system and armor of the new dreadnoughts are estimated to cost 27.2 million rubles, and the armament and equipment will need 2.2 million rubles, and now 30 million rubles is only enough to build one dreadnought.

At the same time, the construction of 4 dreadnoughts, the start-up capital of 30 million rubles will not be spent long at all, and if the follow-up funds cannot be put in place, then the Navy may have to embezzle funds from other projects to maintain the construction work.

Of course, Krylov did not dare to say to Nicholas II that such a high price was entirely due to the chaotic and inefficient management of the shipyards built by the Russian state. The results of a review of the shipyards by the General Staff of the Navy at the end of last year made the Navy look gloomy, and Russian shipyards cost at least 30% more to build the same ships than abroad, which means that the Germans only needed 20.58 million rubles to build the new battleship, and the British even lower.

Moreover, in the case that the cost is more expensive than that of other countries, a large number of materials for the new ship still need to be imported, and the Admiralty believes that many necessary materials cannot be produced in China, or the arrival of some domestically supplied parts will greatly delay the construction progress of the warship.

However, in the large number of orders spilled to foreign companies, it is clear what the Admiralty can play Krylov, but none of this can be said to His Majesty the Tsar. Now this has to be put aside, and how to get the Duma to approve the construction of close to 120 million rubles to ensure the smooth completion of the battleship is the most important thing.

It's okay not to mention the Duma, but to mention Duma Nicholas II is a belly of fire: "What can those guys do except drag me back?" Even the 'sick man of Europe' Ottoman was able to order dreadnoughts from Germany, and these guys actually opposed the demand to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet! What else to say that a mere dreadnought cannot change the absolute superiority of the Black Sea Fleet over the Ottoman Navy!

And the Germans have already begun to build their 3rd class dreadnoughts and the kind of large armored cruisers equipped with battleship guns, while the Russian Navy has not even approved the funds for the construction of 4 dreadnoughts!

And Wojvodsky, who was unaware of the severity of such a state of affairs as the Ottomans were about to have dreadnoughts, how could he, the Minister of the Navy, be? Openly contemptuous of the Duma, not far from cooperating with the Duma, who is now obstructing the construction of new warships, he cannot get out of it! ”

As if realizing that it was not appropriate to accuse the Admiralty Minister in front of Krylov, Nicholas II calmed his anger and glanced at Krylov.

The poor chairman of the technical committee lowered his head deeply, looking like a schoolboy who had done something wrong, whether it was the evaluation of the Ottoman Empire, or the dissatisfaction with Germany, or the anger of the Minister of the Navy, it was not for him to evaluate, and Krylov did not want to hear a sentence from the mouth of the Tsar's majesty: "Krylov, what do you think?" "Any comments you make will cause you problems.

Fortunately, Nicholas II did not ask the question that worried him, but said in a deep voice: "No matter what happens, I want you to get 4 battleships on time!" No matter what happens, the plans for the construction of new battleships must not be changed! Since 30 million rubles can sustain the construction of 4 warships for a year, then the Duma must also admit this fait accompli afterwards, and I want them to realize that no matter how much they obstruct and delay the appropriation, they will not be able to stop the construction of the battleship, and then honestly allocate funds to the battleship! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Krylov bowed his head and responded: "The construction of 4 warships will inevitably start on time." ”

That being said, Krylov had no idea whether the construction of these four powerful warships, which represented the renewed hope of the Russian Navy, would proceed as planned. (To be continued......)