Japan, Kure Naval Factory.

As a new submarine was completed and launched, officials from the Japanese Admiralty and the British Admiralty burst into smiles.

"Cheers!"

The wine glasses touched, and the representatives of both sides drank it all, indescribably happy.

"Mr. Marr, thank you for your strong support for the Imperial Japanese Navy, now we can also produce and build advanced submarines on our own, and we will no longer be afraid of the Imperial Chinese Navy." Japanese Navy Minister Aritomo Yamamoto said with a smile.

Now that the Anglo-Japanese alliance is in its honeymoon period, it has not been affected by the fiasco of the Fifth Sino-British War, perhaps because both countries are unlucky island nations and feel sympathy, and for various strategic purposes, the Japanese Empire and the British Empire are closely together.

Since even the Royal Navy of the British Empire was currently unable to obtain all-steel battleships, the British Empire had to adopt a defensive posture in the face of the threat of the Chinese Empire's maritime power, and did not dare to be aggressive anymore.

The Japanese Navy was rebuilt with the help of the British Empire's Navy, and the technology and funds were all provided by the British Empire. If five years ago the British Empire had reservations about the development of the Japanese Empire's naval power, the British Empire is now fully open to the Japanese Navy in terms of naval technology after the Battle of the Solomon Islands.

It can be said that today's Japanese Navy, like the American Navy, has the full support of the British Empire, and all kinds of high and new technologies are available.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was happy, and with the core technology of the British Imperial Navy, the Japanese Navy could quickly become strong in a short period of time. Although the British Navy felt very sorry for the comprehensive technical support of Japan, in order to confront the Chinese Empire, the Japanese Navy was indispensable, so the British Empire could only endure the pain.

However, although the British Empire's various advanced naval shipbuilding technologies were open to Japan without any threshold, the Japanese Navy could not eat them all at once.

Cause? No money!

A 10,000-ton ironclad ship has to be bought by Japan, let alone an all-steel battleship with a high cost. In the past, the Japanese Navy could not afford it, and now it can't afford it, because it was defeated by the Chinese Empire and paid 230 million taels of silver to the Chinese Empire, which simply cost the lives of the Japanese, and the scourge of several generations of Japanese women could not afford to pay it!

However, there is a poor way for the poor. In the face of the Imperial Chinese Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy chose another path, and the cannons of giant ships could not be bought for the time being, even if the British only charged the cost of building ships. However, ordinary armored cruisers can still be afforded, and it is economical and affordable to equip armored cruisers on a large scale, as in the case of the Tsarist Empire.

However, unlike Tsarist Russia, Japan is an island country, and maritime trade is the key. Tsarist Russia can survive without land and sea, and can survive on its own continental territory alone, but Japan cannot, and if the Chinese Empire makes another coastal harassment and shelling, the Japanese economy will be completely ruined.

Therefore, after consulting with the British Empire, the Japanese Navy chose a more cost-effective submarine.

Submarines, as a sharp weapon at sea for small countries, if they are developed and form scale and combat effectiveness, then they can definitely easily destroy a big country that eats by the sea.

As the Chinese Empire dominated the Pacific Ocean, the size of the Chinese Empire also exploded, spreading throughout the Pacific Rim. From ancient times to the present, the Chinese Empire is the largest exporter of traditional silk, tea, porcelain, etc., with the strength of the Chinese Empire, now it is the world's largest steel producer, a large number of high-quality steel exports to Europe and the United States, monopolizing the global automobile industry, pharmaceutical industry, telecommunications industry, especially the Chinese Empire occupied Australia, even Britain had to import Australian wool from the Chinese Empire, which led to a sharp increase in the maritime trade volume of the Chinese Empire.

Once upon a time, the British Empire had to build a naval force on a large scale to protect the sea trade lanes, and now the Chinese Empire is also following the path of the British Empire, and the sea lines of communication are becoming increasingly close to the national interests of the Chinese Empire.

In this way, after repeated research, the military strategists of the British Imperial Navy and the Japanese Navy finally worked out countermeasures to counter the development of the Imperial Chinese Navy's naval forces, and even made the decision to give priority to the development of submarines in the Japanese Navy.

Because the experienced British Navy found that submarines could avoid surface engagements, secretly ambush on the lines of communication, and attack the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire, they could also achieve great results. This was all due to the fact that the Chinese Empire waged endless wars against Britain during the war, which led to heavy economic losses for Britain, which was far more threatening to Britain than naval defeat. As a result, the British in turn planned to use submarines to attack the merchant ships of the Chinese Empire during the war, causing the Chinese Empire to suffer huge economic losses.

As far as the Japanese Navy is concerned, if it has a submarine force, even if the surface forces cannot defeat the Imperial Chinese Navy, it can at least threaten the port merchant ships of the major coastal cities of the Chinese Empire underwater, so that the Imperial Chinese Navy will not dare to take action against Japan easily.

As a result, the British and Japanese navies took what they needed, and an agreement was reached.

In 1877, the British Navy had successfully developed a fifth-class submarine, but it did not play a role during the Battle of the Solomon Islands, but the technology was already very advanced, even if it could not pose a threat to the Imperial Chinese Navy, it was more than enough to attack merchant ships.

The British Navy has successfully developed 5-class submarines, which are the first class A-class, and then arranged in alphabetical order, and now there are four classes B, C, D, E, of which the E-class submarines are divided into E1 to E9, which are the best performance and the most built first-class submarines, and the British Navy has built more than 140 submarines.

Among them, the strongest submarine of the British Navy is the E9 submarine, with a displacement of 667t, using 2 of the most advanced Vickers diesel engines in the United Kingdom, twin shaft propulsion, 840 horsepower, speed of 12kn, endurance of 3000nmile, armament of 2 450mm bow torpedo tubes, 2 side torpedo tubes, 1 stern torpedo tube, 10 loading torpedoes, and 1 76mm naval gun.

The British Navy's E9 was developed on the basis of the E-1 class submarines, but the submarine technology transferred to the Japanese Navy was not the most advanced E9, but the C-class submarines.

Submarine technology is different from surface warship technology, and the Japanese Navy has no experience at all, so it completely imports the British Navy's C-class submarine technology and production line.

The original C-class submarine had a displacement of only 291t, and the main engine was 1 Vickers-type gasoline engine with a single propulsion shaft; The underwater power is less than 300 horsepower, the speed is 8.5 kN, the endurance is 660 Nmile, the armament is 2 450mm bow torpedo tubes, 2 torpedoes, and the safe diving depth is 30.5m.

At first, the Japanese were very satisfied with this kind of submarine, but the Japanese were not stupid, and soon got all kinds of submarine intelligence from all over the world, especially when they learned that the C-class submarine was only the level of the British five years ago, and it was two generations weaker than the submarine of the Chinese Empire, so the Japanese were unhappy and sought the E-class submarine from the British Navy, but the British Navy was also selfish, insisting that the performance of the E-class submarine was unstable, and rejected the request of the Japanese during the test.

As a result, the Japanese had no choice but to develop their own submarines, anyway, the world's submarines had just begun to develop, except for the generation gap with the submarines of the Chinese Imperial Navy, the other European and American powers were on the same level. The Japanese Navy was clearly unable to acquire the most advanced submarines from the Chinese Empire, so it had to develop them on its own.

Of course, the most important thing is that there is no money, the Japanese are so poor that of course they have to produce their own products.

THE JAPANESE NAVY NAMED THE C-CLASS SUBMARINES AFTER ITS OWN MODIFICATION AS THE KAWASAKI CLASS SUBMARINES, AND BUILT 1 AT THE KURE NAVAL FACTORY.

Displacement (surface/underwater): 304t/335t; Main scale: 38.63m× 3.84m× 3.05m; Main engine: 1 American standard gasoline engine, single propulsion shaft; Power (surface / underwater): 1160 hp/300 hp; Speed (surface/underwater/underwater): 10kn/8kn; Fuel loading: gasoline 17.8t, endurance: 560nm at 10.8kn speed on the surface, 60nm at 4kn underwater speed, armament: 2 450mm bow torpedo tubes, 2 torpedoes; Safe diving depth: 30.5m; Number of crew: 26.

This was the first submarine developed by the Japanese themselves, and the cost was a third cheaper than that built by the British, and they did not even use the British gasoline engine, but bought cheaper standard gasoline engines from the United States.

The British were also dissatisfied with the behavior of the Japanese navy, but they did not bother to consider the Anglo-Japanese alliance and the Anglo-American alliance.

In fact, although the British Navy encouraged the Japanese Navy to vigorously develop submarines, the British Navy itself was building a large number of submarines, after all, submarines were cheap, and it was also a strategy that the British Navy had to adopt when there were no all-steel battleships at present.

Similarly, the British Navy has not forgotten the American Navy, and has sold the most advanced E2 submarine technology and equipment to the American Navy.

When the Japanese Navy completed the first Kawasaki submarine, the American Navy also realized the home-grown construction of the E2 submarine.

The United States and Japan have a common enemy in the Pacific, both of which are the Imperial Chinese Navy. The U.S. Navy is currently in terms of surface warships, even if the U.S. Navy starts to build eight all-steel battleships, it will not dare to compete head-on with the Imperial Chinese Navy, after all, the Imperial Chinese Navy still has nine Hsiungfeng-class battleships. Therefore, for a long time, the American Navy will not be able to challenge the hegemony of the Chinese Imperial Navy, but in order to compete for the Ezo Tail Empire, the American Navy still hopes to have deterrence in a short period of time, so vigorously developing submarines is also the choice of the American Navy.

The United States, Britain, and Japan then held a secret naval conference in Washington, and after repeated consultations, the three countries reached a military offensive and defensive alliance. In order to counter the Imperial Chinese Navy, the navies of the United States, Britain, and Japan should closely cooperate, and in terms of capital ships, the navies of the United States, Britain, and Japan should maintain at least 32 all-steel battleships in the next five years, and only in this way can the three countries form a deterrent force against the current nine all-steel battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy, as well as the 15 all-steel battleships that may be added in the next few years.

At the same time, in order to create an underwater deterrent for the Chinese Empire, the navies of the United States, Britain and Japan agreed to maintain at least 300 submarines, with the British Navy undertaking 150 submarines, the American Navy undertaking 80 vessels, and the Japanese Navy undertaking 70 vessels.

News of a military alliance between the United States, Britain and Japan soon came to light, and although the governments of the three countries said that their alliance was not aimed at any country, all countries in the world understood that they were targeting the Chinese Empire.

Just when the countries of the world were looking at the attitude of the Chinese Empire, the response of the Chinese Empire surprised everyone.

"We have no reason to oppose the military alliance between the United States, Britain and Japan, and we hope that the United States, Britain and Japan can contribute to world peace! The Chinese Empire is a peace-loving country and hopes for peace, prosperity and development all over the world! ”

People all over the world immediately cheered the declaration of the Chinese Empire, and almost feared that the Chinese Empire would fight with the United States, Britain and Japan again. But politicians around the world are messy and can't guess what the Chinese empire wants to do.

Of course, the Chinese Empire is only superficially relaxed, how can you say otherwise?

Secretly, however, the Chinese Empire held a secret military conference to discuss and study the recent moves of the United States, Britain and Japan.

"You mean that the Japanese Navy is vigorously developing submarines?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Chancellor has received definite information that the British Navy has transferred the most advanced submarine technology to the American and Japanese navies, and that not only the Japanese Navy is now building submarines vigorously, but also the American Navy. Intelligence shows that the navies of the United States, Britain and Japan seem to have discussed the feasibility of blocking commercial shipping lanes with submarines. ”

Li Weiguo suddenly understood, this is to play wolf pack tactics!

Once upon a time, Li Weiguo was the first to develop submarines because of the weak naval strength in his hands, and when facing the powerful British Imperial Navy, this is a maritime weapon for small and weak countries. Now that the Chinese Empire is strong and the navies of Britain, the United States and Japan are weak, it is obvious that the navies of the three countries will think of submarine tactics.

"It seems that the Imperial Navy must step up the development of anti-submarine equipment and the training of anti-submarine tactics!"

Hearing Li Weiguo's words, the officials of the Admiralty were stunned.

The word anti-submarine, for them, is also a new word, which has never been touched before.

"No matter how powerful the surface warships of Britain, the United States and Japan are, they are just building a pile of scrap copper and rotten iron, and when the new battleships of the empire appear, they will definitely cry to death. However, the development of submarine forces by the United States, Britain, and Japan to attack the Empire's sea lines of communication is a huge threat, and the Imperial Navy must establish an anti-submarine fleet as soon as possible. ”

Seeing that Li Weiguo attached so much importance to the submarines of the United States, Britain, and Japan, some officers who originally adhered to the idea of the giant ship cannon doctrine suddenly did not dare to speak.

"Immediately call in naval technicians, we must personally deploy anti-submarine matters, and at the same time, all departments must closely monitor and collect intelligence information on the navies of Britain, the United States, and Japan, the more detailed the better."

"Your Ministers obey!"

Although the officials do not understand anti-submarine, as long as Li Weiguo says this, then they will be 100% detailed. After all, Li Weiguo has never made a wrong prediction, and he did not dare to doubt Li Weiguo's decision. (To be continued.) )