"The Chinese Navy is building new ironclad ships on a large scale at the Jiangnan Shipyard!"

A piece of news from the Swiss daily newspaper quickly spread throughout Europe, attracting the attention of European powers. In particular, Britain and France, as the world's first and second largest naval forces, suddenly tensed the nerves of the two governments.

The clouds of the fiasco of the war still hung over Britain and France, and both governments, the military, and the civilian population were afraid of the new empire in the East, China, which claimed to be the center of the world.

The British and French governments felt very humiliated, as anyone who had lost two major wars in a row. Especially in the Third Yapian War, the powerful Anglo-French combined fleet was unable to resist a small East China Sea Fleet, and suffered heavy casualties, which made the Royal Navy of the British Empire and the Royal Navy of France embarrassed.

After the war, with the conclusion of a peace treaty between Britain and France with China, the British and French military soon discovered some secrets of the Chinese Shence Army, such as the Gatling machine gun, a new weapon that caused the British and French forces to suffer a crushing defeat in the second Battle of Songhu, which is still fresh in my memory. The British and French navies, on the other hand, learned some information about the ten shallow water heavy turret ironclad ships of the former East China Sea Fleet, and rushed experts to crack them at home, but there seemed to be no substantial progress.

When the Chinese Navy again began construction of large battleships at the Jiangnan Shipyard, the British Royal Navy was the first to panic.

The Royal Naval Council, the Royal Naval Chancellor, Viscount Albert, and the First, Second, and Third Sea Lords summoned a group of officers and soldiers who participated in the Third Epicene War, in order to understand the reasons for the defeat more thoroughly.

At this time, a naval lieutenant walked in.

"Under the Eleventh Cruiser of the Royal Navy's Sixth Fleet, Second Officer of the Goddess of Victory, John Fisher, is here to report!"

Albert nodded, invited Fisher to sit down, and then asked, "Major Fisher." I invite you to come today to learn about the battle situation of our Imperial Royal Navy against the Chinese Navy during the Battle of Songhu, and tell us what you know, the more detailed the better. ”

"Yes!" Fisher received the order and then began to tell his personal story of China's war in China.

During this time, Albert and the three Sea Ministers interrupted Fisher several times. Then ask.

"According to you, the Chinese Navy has already surpassed our Royal Navy of the British Empire at the tactical level? How is this possible? The First Sea Secretary seriously questioned whether he, as head of military training and tactics, was reluctant to admit that the Chinese Navy was superior to the British Navy in naval tactics, although he felt that Fisher had a little truth in what he said.

Fisher explained: "The Chinese navy is very shrewd, and I fought in the Second Commercial War (the British name for the Second Epicene War), when the Chinese Navy had a powerful battleship, but it was not our opponent, but in the Third Commercial War. However, they suddenly had ten more shallow water heavy turret ironclad ships, and the hull was almost under the water, making it difficult for our direct-aim artillery to hit, and the other party deliberately chose the location of the naval battle in the shallow sea area of the Yangtze River estuary to maximize the advantages of the shallow water heavy turret ironclad ships. And the advantage of our fleet is to fight in the deep sea, apparently the other side knows this factor, and after the end of the second commercial war, the Chinese Navy is already studying the third commercial war. This is enough to show that our opponents have surpassed us at a tactical level. , if we hadn't attacked Shanghai at that time. Instead, if we use our mobility to attack other coastal areas of China, the outcome of the war may be reversed. ”

"You have a point!" Albert nodded, agreeing with Fisher.

"It's just a blind cat touching a dead mouse!" The First Sea Minister snorted coldly, and had to admit that this was a matter of the commander's tactical failure, and if he really attacked the Chinese coast according to Fisher's tactics, the Chinese navy would be exhausted. I am afraid that the victory or defeat of the war will be rewritten, at least it will not make the family fight so badly and so humiliating.

Albert then asked: "So from your point of view, how can this shallow water heavy turret ironclad ship of the Chinese Navy be cracked?" ”

Fisher thought for a moment and said, "Judging from the equipment alone. This shallow water heavy turret ironclad of the Chinese Navy is almost invincible, because none of our largest caliber naval guns can penetrate it, indicating that her armor is very thick. On the other hand, our ironclad ship is only hung with a layer of ironclad, the keel structure is still wooden, and the 305 mm cannon equipped by the opponent can tear apart the armor of our warship with one shot, and its explosive power is even more terrifying, a shell can almost sink or damage any of our warships, which shows that the Chinese Navy's shells use some kind of new scumbag, and the power is several times or even more than ten times that of our hey medicine, otherwise it will not cause such a terrifying destructive power. The opponent completely surpasses our warships in terms of firepower and armor protection, and the only weakness should be the power system and low freeboard, because if you want to improve firepower and armor protection, you must sacrifice power, and low-freeboard battleships cannot fight in the deep sea or even near the sea, which is why the other side only fights with us in shallow sea areas. ”

The First Sea Minister was silent, and when it came to the issue of equipment, the Second Sea Minister was in charge of this aspect, and he also did not want to admit defeat, how could the dignified British Empire not even be as good as China in terms of equipment? It just doesn't make sense!

"I have tested the power of 305mm shells, which is probably equivalent to our 110-pound guns, even if our ironclad ship is a wooden and iron-hulled structure, it is impossible to sink or severely damage one of our large warships with one shot, will you be scared stupid at that time, you must know that your spirit is tense on the battlefield, and you may misjudge."

Fisher snorted coldly, knowing that these sea ministers were all purely civilian personnel, had no combat experience at all, and relied on theory and nonsense, so he said: "As a major officer, I am fully responsible for what I say, if there is any untruth, please send me to a military court!" ”

"You—" The Second Sea Minister choked with rage.

Albert smiled, as the Secretary of the Navy, unlike the Minister of the Sea, although the Secretary of the Navy was in the cabinet, but he had combat experience, he suddenly liked Fisher a little, like a young man.

"Major Fisher, I believe what you said, according to my investigative intelligence, the slag powder used in the Chinese Navy's artillery shells is indeed a new formula, and the explosion does not have a large amount of black smoke, similar to smokeless gunpowder, but it is much more powerful than smokeless powder."

Fisher nodded. "That's right, after our naval guns fired, the muzzles of the guns spewed a large amount of black smoke, which often blocked our vision, on the other hand, after the Chinese navy opened fire, there was only a faint white smoke." Their poison burned so well that it didn't affect the shooting horizon, and we suffered in that regard. Also, the enemy's naval guns have an extremely fast rate of fire, they should be rear-loading guns, and our front-loading guns must be replaced as soon as possible, otherwise we will lose to China in the next war. ”

Albert was stunned for a moment and asked rhetorically, "Why do you say that?" Do you think we are still going to war with China? ”

"Yes!" Fisher nodded affirmatively.

Albert asked with interest, "Tell me what you think?" ”

Fisher then said, "I think it will be another five years." Britain and China saw that a large-scale war would have to break out. ”

"Another war in five years? It's just nonsense! ”

"Say you're fat and you're gasping!"

The First and Second Sea Ministers sneered at each other, feeling that a little Navy Lieutenant had gone crazy.

Albert asked curiously, "Why do you say five years?" Isn't it three years or ten years or something? ”

Fisher then explained: "The core interests of our British Empire are in Europe, China is the core empire of the East, and the distance between Britain and China is thousands of miles away, so the possibility of war is very small, because large-scale wars require strong logistical support, and expeditions are too consuming of national strength, but our British Empire has many colonies in Asia." This eventually led to a military conflict with China. It's a pity that we lost two games in a row, and we lost a lot. It is impossible for another war with China to break out in three years. ”

Fisher paused and continued: "However, China's population is huge, its territory is huge, and its war potential is huge. It is clear that the British Empire is currently dominating the world, and it is impossible for China to rise, so there will always be a war between the British Empire and China. Unless one side completely defeats the other side and seizes the position of world hegemon, it will be impossible for our British Empire to let China have ten years of development, that would be terrible. As far as I know, the construction of the Suez Canal in the British Empire will be completed in the next four or five years, and the arrival time of the British Empire's home fleet in Asia will be shortened from the current eight or nine months to three months, which will greatly ease the logistical pressure on the Empire, so within five years, the Empire will inevitably go on an expedition to China to avenge the defeat of two commercial wars. ”

Bang Bang Bang!

Albert applauded, and he said happily, "Major Fisher, you said a very good thing. The reason why our British Empire admits the defeat of the two commercial wars is because the logistics and supplies of the large-scale expedition to China are too expensive, and one carelessness will drag down the entire British Empire, so we dare not take risks. But once the Suez Canal is opened, it will greatly reduce the logistical burden, and it will be time for our British Empire to take revenge. ”

Fisher's newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, and he spoke out boldly, winning Albert's favor.

If Li Weiguo knew that Fisher had participated in the two Yapian Wars, then he would definitely kill Fisher by any means and destroy the future star of the British Royal Navy.

At the end of the day, Albert summoned Fisher separately and transferred him to the Naval Armament Department to work with the Second Sea Lord.

Unfortunately, the Second Sea Secretary did not like Fisher very well, and many of Fisher's claims were ignored.

Fisher is just one example, the British Royal Navy has a lot of talent, and a Fisher being suppressed and buried will not have a bad effect.

When British intelligence sent back a telegram confirming that the Chinese Navy was laying keels in the 10,000-ton docks at the Jiangnan Shipyard, Hangzhou Bay Shipyard and Huangpu Shipyard to build large warships, the British Royal Navy quickly moved to start building a new class of large ironclad ships.

The monarch-class ironclad ship, the British Royal Navy started the construction of a 10,000-ton ironclad ship for the first time after the Warrior class.

This time, the British Navy ship designers borrowed the design principles of the Chinese Navy's Weiyuan-class shallow water heavy turret ironclad ship, and tried to install turret-type ironclad for the first time, so the Monarch ironclad ship, which should have been built in 1869, was built ahead of schedule, and the number of this class was not a pitiful two in history, but a full eighteen.

The reason why there are as many as 18 ships to be built is mainly because the British Royal Navy is to dominate the world as the starting point, since it is known that the Chinese Navy has started to build 10,000-ton warships in nine 10,000-ton docks, then the British Royal Navy must build with twice the advantage to ensure superiority, after all, the British Royal Navy not only has to suppress the Chinese Navy, but also the French Navy and other naval powers in the world.

Of course, this is also Britain's traditional hegemonic thinking, such as the world naval competition in World War I, for every time Germany builds a warship, Britain has to build two or even three, because Britain not only has to suppress Germany, but also has to suppress other countries, and even has to overwhelm its allies France and the United States, so it has to build more.

Now that this is the case, it is not surprising to learn that the Chinese Navy has started to build nine 10,000-ton ironclad ships, and the British Navy has built 18 10,000-ton ironclad ships in response.

Since the Chinese Navy has done a very good job of secrecy, British intelligence only knows that the Chinese Navy is building 10,000-ton ironclad ships, and there are nine of them, and the specific parameters are not clear.

However, there was no shortage of capable people in the British Navy, and they quickly guessed some data on the new ironclad through some indicators of the Weiyuan-class shallow water heavy turret ironclad ships existing in the Chinese Navy.

For example, the 305 mm main gun, since the successful experiment in the Weiyuan class, will inevitably be equipped with new warships. In response, the main guns of the Monarch-class ironclad ships designed and built by the British Navy were upgraded from the existing 110 pounder to 120 pounder, and at the same time changed to breech-loading guns.

Although the main gun adopted the turret type, most of the British designers of this period believed in the firepower layout of the ship's waist guns, so a single turret 120-pounder main gun was installed in the bow and stern, and the remaining 64-pounder guns, 32-pounder guns, 12-pounder guns, etc., a total of 100 guns, were all concentrated in the waist of the ship's amidship, and the gun layout was arranged in columns.

As for the armor protection, the British Navy judged the power of the Chinese Navy's 305 mm main gun by testing the armor-piercing ability of the 120-pounder naval gun, and believed that the current British warship armor could only be blocked by a thickness of 320 mm, but the problem was that the 320 mm iron armor was too heavy, dragging down the speed of only 8 knots, which was unbearable for the British Navy in pursuit of speed, so the final armor was from 320 mm to 280 mm, and the speed reached 11 knots, which was barely acceptable to the British Navy.

Due to the influence of the Chinese Navy's Weiyuan shallow water heavy turret ironclad ship, as well as the lessons of the Chongming Island naval battle of the Third Yapian War, the British Navy directly abandoned the sail lock when building the monarch-class ironclad ship, and completely used steam engine power, which also led other European and American countries to begin to abandon the sail lock, and the world navy also entered the era of pure steam engine warships without sails. (To be continued.) )