"It was an uneventful, but impressive fight. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info" After the battle, Jericho commented when he inspected the damage to the battleship. The entire battle lasted less than half an hour, and the battleship of the second class Agile was hit 9 times by large-caliber shells. Except for the two shells that were directly bounced off by the 7-inch main armor belt, the remaining 7 shells all caused varying degrees of damage. Three 7.5-inch secondary guns were destroyed on the fighting side, and one main gun was destroyed. At the same time, the front of the hull was also cut through 2 openings. The water ingress was 750 tons, which caused the first tilt of the battleship by 6 degrees.

"It's not a hassle, and it can be fixed in three weeks after you go back. Including the replacement of damaged guns. An officer next to him looked at General Jericho, who looked a little serious, and said optimistically.

"That's good, I'll leave the maintenance of the battleship to you, I have my own job." Jericho said.

Jericho has nothing to do with repairing the ship, it is entirely the responsibility of Italy, and Jericho is not worried that the Prince Albert will kill again at this time, Jericho does not know that he stuck the rear turret of the German ship at the last moment of the engagement, but purely judging from the poor port facilities in Turkey, it may take months to repair the Prince Albert with moderate burns.

What Jericho really needed to pay attention to was his own report to the Royal Navy. He knew that the report in his hand would have a very important reference for the future development of the Royal Navy, after all, it had been several years since the major powers did not fight naval wars, and now the British Navy was a little confused in designing warships.

"Overall, although the Agile is at a disadvantage against the Prince Albert alone, I am satisfied with this battleship, after all, the former is about 2,000 tons lighter than the latter. In an engagement, the German ships had an advantage if the two sides were at a distance, but if the distance was reduced to about 7 kilometers, our firepower could suppress the opponent. The 7-inch armor belt is still enough for now, and even a 12-inch gun will not be able to penetrate it. ”

"I have carefully analysed the difference between the Battle of West Africa and the Battle of the Mediterranean, where the Germans could easily overwhelm a French battleship and a cruiser by relying on more advanced fire control and the French battleship's own defenses. The former allows them to increase their effective firing range. And the latter had a limited defensive area, so the defeat of the French was not surprising. And in this naval battle, our fire control is at the same level as the other side. The Agility's better protection also weakened the damage of the opponent's firepower. In addition, the German ship is not in very good condition, and it is normal to have this result. ”

"Just because Agile is doing well doesn't mean it doesn't need to be improved. Although the Agile was equipped with a large number of guns, the layout of the gun gallery seriously affected the firing range and elevation angle of the guns, and a very critical problem with the close range of our guns was that the elevation angle was too small. Moreover, the weight of the Agility's armament was so great that we did not even dare to pursue the enemy at high speed. This warship is not suitable for fighting in the Atlantic or the North Sea, because the mere sea conditions can seriously affect combat effectiveness. If the Agile is enlarged to 13,000 tons, and the secondary gun turret is turned into a secondary gun at the same time. Then its combat effectiveness will definitely be raised by a notch. ”

At this point, Jericho put down the pen in his hand. He needs to carefully consider the rest of the content, the first is just a summary of the basic situation of the war, and at the same time make an evaluation of the agile, and then he has to write some suggestions. His report was so important that before he came to Italy, he was secretly told what the report should highlight. These people had different demands, and as a conscientious officer, Jericho could not have compiled this report as they had requested, but he had to write his own opinions.

"Our ships are slower. It is impossible to bite them when the opponent retreats, this operation is in the narrow Mediterranean, and if the battle is in the Atlantic, then in the absence of absolute speed superiority, we will definitely not be able to catch those armored cruisers that are scurrying all over the world, whether German or American! After much deliberation, Jericho took up a new line and wrote the first paragraph.

The situation of the British in this plane is a bit bad, because they are not only at a standoff with Germany, which is trying to compete for the second largest navy in the world, but also with the United States, the future third leader, (well, at the time of the Great White Fleet, the second largest navy in the world) The behavior of the Americans fully explains the saying that being rich is capricious. All kinds of warships are good or bad, let's try two of them. Moreover, the Americans are now deeply influenced by the Germans and are very interested in large armored cruisers, the new generation of armored cruisers are said to have a displacement of up to 15,000 tons and are armed with 10 10-inch guns, which is enough to suppress almost all current cruisers!

And the American man-made cruiser is not placed in the harbor to watch and play, the United States has strength and ambition! After the United States received permission from the Germans to moor warships in the German colonies of the Far East, the Americans deployed 4 armored cruisers there all year round! And every now and then I go around the Far East. Let the British Far East Fleet and the Japanese Combined Fleet get nervous from time to time. And with the approach of the Russo-Japanese War, this simple mental tension has a tendency to develop in the direction of war readiness!

That's right, it's the direction of combat readiness! Because it is written in the treaty signed by Great Britain and Japan. If it was only an engagement between Japan and Russia, then Britain would remain neutral, and if Russia's allies were involved in the battle, then Britain would enter the war. Originally, on a historical plane, this treaty was directed against France. And on this plane, the United States must be added! Therefore, the American cruisers also became the object of the British to watch out for.

And the United States, as a country bordering two oceans, can fight against Britain and Japan on two fronts at the same time. In such a vast ocean, even the mighty British Royal Navy feels very stressed! So, in this case, it was demanded that the British armored cruisers must solve the problem as soon as they catch the opponent! So the battleship must be able to fight and catch up!

"Therefore, the speed of the existing warships must be greatly improved, and the old steam engines and coal-fired boilers obviously cannot meet the power needs of the new warships, so we must use steam turbines on all the new warships. The speed should reach about 24 knots! The current battleship defense is basically sufficient, if it is not for the opponent's capital ship, the use of 6-inch armor is enough. But the defense area must be large. ”

The third is more present~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )