The news that the Americans were going to intervene in the Panama Canal soon caused great concern at the top level of Colombia, you know, Colombia's nearly 1,800 kilometers of coastline was split in two by Panama Province and turned into two sections of coastline thousands of kilometers apart, which Colombia's naval strength was powerless to defend at all.

The Navy of the United States of America, as far as the whole world of this era is concerned, is not at all powerful in terms of naval combat effectiveness and the quality of warships, but the United States is now among the world's largest in terms of gross national product, but the US Navy has a considerable advantage in the number of warships in this era.

On the American continent, especially in the East Coast countries, the US Navy, which has nearly 20 old and new main warships, is undoubtedly an opponent that is too strong to confront it.

On this day of Christmas Day in 1897, the news from the distant Pacific Ocean was forwarded through many important nodes such as the Galapagos Islands, the Kingdom of Hawaii, and Guam, and was personally sent to Qin Kai's desk by Zhou Ruidong, the head of the Military and Political Department, and Lu Han, the head of the Navy Department.

"Instructor, there's news from South America that President Tania of Colombia has offered to work with us more broadly in the navy to protect their long and difficult coastline! Moreover, their desire is very eager! Zhou Ruidong showed a rare smile, "Because there was an explosion on the Panamanian Railway in Panama just 3 days ago, a freight locomotive derailed, which will interrupt the railway for 7-8 days!" ”

"Didn't the Americans move?" When Qin Kai heard the news, he couldn't help frowning, and immediately asked.

Intelligence Department these guys. They're all saboteurs. The de facto controlling stake in the Panama Railroad has long since fallen into the hands of an Americas fund affiliated with the Global Sources consortium. At first, he considered controlling the railway connecting the east and west coasts of the Americas from the perspective of financial means, but in the end, the Intelligence Division found that even if the consortium controlled the railway company, considering the US government's concern about the only railway connecting the east and west coastlines, it was not realistic to secretly and quickly paralyze the railway.

Fortunately, the use value of the Panama Railway has been quickly excavated, this railway. It is nothing more than a barrel of dynamite between the United States and Colombia and even South American countries, and as long as it is ignited, it will immediately join the chain reaction of the entire Americas.

"Yes, the U.S. government has announced on the 23rd that it will immediately launch an investigation into this incident and ask the Colombian side to assist, and yesterday, the American battleship Monnard Nock has left New York Harbor and headed for the Caribbean Sea...... Shen Shouchang has secretly briefed President Tania on these news! ”

"The battleship Monadnock?" This name made Qin Kai a little unfamiliar. The old fleet on the west coast of the United States of America was almost destroyed by itself in the San Francisco Chinese Workers' Incident. However, the industrial base of the Yankees has not been affected at all, and in view of the previous failures with China in the Pacific, the US naval intelligence submitted by the Intelligence Division shows that the US Navy's shipbuilding program has surpassed the progress of history.

However, the Americans' somewhat maverick cowboy style is also vividly displayed in the development of the Navy......

Adhering to the development path of learning from the British Empire, the United States has obviously also noticed the rise of the Chinese Navy on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, but the Chinese Navy has always taken a completely different path from the West in its shipbuilding plan, and the development strategy of less but more refined has enabled the Chinese Navy to make full use of the heavy industrial capacity that is still not huge in China, and more importantly, the absolute superiority in naval gunnery has laid the foundation for the growth of the US Navy that cannot be replicated at all.

Since it is impossible to replicate the rise of the Chinese Navy, the American cowboy has naturally turned to the original trajectory of history - running volume!

A large number of warships that had been mothballed or stopped from construction were put back on the slipways under the impetus of the U.S. Navy, and after redesigning with reference to the concepts of the United Kingdom, China and other naval powers, the Navy of the United States of America quickly restored the scale of the navy that had been almost abandoned in less than 12 years from 1886 to 1897.

However, as the head of the Chinese Naval Development Committee, Lu Han, who is the head of the Chinese Naval Development Committee, has a very bad evaluation of this......

"Prime Minister, the battleship Monaldnock belongs to the East Coast Fleet, according to my opinion, this is the third type of battleship of the American offshore gunboat series, launched in 92 years of service, although the Yankees are named ironclad ships, however, the age of these battleships laying the keel can be traced back to more than 20 years ago, the earliest completed construction is the M1 Puritan ironclad launched in 86, and the latest one launched is the 6 type Monterey ironclad! It's not so much an ironclad as a large mosquito ship! ”

Lu Han mentioned the shallow water gunboats of the United States near the coast, which reminded Qin Kai of some important information, earlier he was obviously concerned about the main battleships that the United States was desperately catching up, but the inefficiency of the United States in the development of naval armaments earlier, even Premier Qin, who knew the history of this naval power in later generations, felt a little incredible.

The real second-class battleship USS Texas was built ahead of schedule in 1887 under pressure from the Chinese Navy in the Pacific, but the Fornock Naval Shipyard, which had almost no experience in the construction of new battleships, had no design experience in the new 6,300-ton warship at all.

And what interested Qin Kai was not the Texas ironclad ship, but the second-class battleship Maine that was then laid with a keel, this battleship that had absolute popularity in its own time and space, obviously, although there were some changes, such as the original misplaced main gun position, after absorbing the experience of Chinese warships, it turned out to be a layout along the central axis...... However, this first-generation American battleship is still as scrap wood as in history!

"The Yankees only sent a low-freeboard, shallow-water gunboat to the port of Colón in the province of Panama? What about their Indiana-grade BBs? And what about their battleship USS Maine? Qin Kai stood in front of the huge map, drank it all with a teacup, then turned around and looked at Lu Han, who was also staring at the map, and then looked at Zhou Ruidong, who was pretending to be fiddling with the coffee cup on the side, this guy completely pretended to be nothing, as long as he went to the sea, it would be all taken care of by Lu Han!

Lu Han was sweating when he heard this, this Prime Minister Qin really has a big appetite, do you want to tease the American battleships now...... Although in his opinion, even the fourth improved Indiana-class battleship, the USS Iowa, which was launched just 6 months ago, is still an outdated twin main gun configuration, and it cannot compete with the Shang-class battleships of the Chinese Navy at all! Not to mention the Changan-class battleships in secret tests!

However, it was the east coast of the Americas, and if its own ships wanted to run from the west coast of Panama to the east coast, they would have to travel 14,500 kilometers by sea around the South American continent, and even if they could supply coal in Chile, it would be absolutely impossible!

"Prime Minister! In fact, according to my opinion, there is no need to make such trouble, it is better to occupy Panama directly, and then chat with the natives of Colombia and talk about the conditions, wouldn't it be very good! Yankees, how dare they provoke us now! Lu Han smiled and directly lifted the burden, this Prime Minister Qin's thinking is really too jumpy, he is talking about the Panama Canal, and he will have to calculate the American battleships again!

Qin Kai naturally laughed at the inaction of this guy, although the Intelligence Department also focused on the progress of the United States' armaments, but looking at this era, obviously no one would have thought that a few years later, the U.S. Navy, which is still a toddler, would rise rapidly in a specific environment.

The simultaneous construction of four Indiana I-class battleships is a symbol of the rise of the U.S. Navy, which means that the country's accumulated industrial capacity for more than 40 years has rapidly shifted to the field of armament construction, even if it uses its own leading technology, it cannot stop such changes...... And the changes that will soon occur in Central America are expected to further promote the construction of US armaments!

And in this American feast, it is obvious that he cannot go home empty-handed! ――

In the calm Florida Strait, the USS Monadnock, flying the American flag, entered the strait along the Miami coastline and immediately felt the unusual atmosphere here, and the two Spanish light cruisers soon spotted the American battleship at about 10 a.m. and immediately followed one from afar.

As a 4,000-ton armored ship, in addition to having a 4-inch armor belt in the key part, the Monadnock battleship also has two full-coverage twin 10-inch main guns and 4 side-chord 6-inch secondary guns, so the tailgating of the Spanish light patrol did not make the captain of the Monadenock Colonel Rykmund feel pressure, on the contrary, as a young man in the US Navy, he even hoped that the Spaniards would fire the first shot.

Cuba, across the Florida Strait, has always been a country of special concern to the entire U.S. Navy, which is the key to the U.S. maritime power to enter the Caribbean, and the Spanish Navy, although it still maintains the glory of its naval tradition, is now more and more powerful than the U.S. Navy, the old sea coachman, should have surrendered their interests in the Americas a long time ago.

"Keep course! Ordered a complete overhaul of the bilge, we must maintain the current speed of 10 knots to ensure that we arrive at the port of Colón, Panama, Colombia by the 29th! Captain Rykmund stood in front of the chart and turned to look at the Spanish warship that was closely following on its flanks.

And he obviously knows the performance of this 4,000-ton big guy very well, the 30 times the diameter of the 10-inch main gun, in the area from the west coast to the Caribbean Sea, obviously has a huge deterrent, however, this 1875 began to build, which was stopped for 10 years and then taken out again to redesign, the construction of the Navy large mosquito ship, power is undoubtedly difficult to cover up the shortcomings, the maximum speed is only 13 knots, the cruising speed is only 10 knots. (To be continued......)