Not only in the design scheme of the "Amagi" class battlecruisers, Hiraga Jean and Fujimoto Kikuo had deep contradictions, but also in the design scheme of the new "Kii" class battleships, the two were also completely different.

Because the appearance of the six "Republica" class battleships ordered by the Chinese Navy in the United States shocked the Japanese government and the public as soon as they appeared in Britain, the commander of the Japanese Second Fleet, Masayuki Akiyama, was so frightened that he vomited blood and died. In order to be able to have warships of the same class to confront them, the Japanese government secretly approved a supplementary budget for the construction of the "Kii" class battleships. According to the requirements of the Japanese Navy, the "Kii" class will be a first-class high-speed battleship, and its speed, firepower, and protection performance are required to surpass the "Republic" class in an all-round way.

Kikuo Fujimoto conducted in-depth research on the "Republican"-class battleships that performed eye-catching in the Second Battle of Helgoland Bay and the Battle of the Celtic Sea, and collected all the information he could find about the "Republic"-class battleships. Fujimoto Kihisao believes that the design ideas of the "Republica" class battleships represent the direction of future development, and Japan's newly built "Amagi" class battlecruisers and "Kii" class high-speed battleships should also adopt such a design method.

According to Fujimoto's vision, both the Amagi-class battlecruisers and the Kii-class high-speed battleships will adopt the same "front-two-rear-one" knapsack triple main gun layout as the "Republica" class, and will be equipped with nine 410-mm 50-diameter guns. In order to save design costs and speed up construction, Fujimoto Kikuo advocated that the shape, size, armament, and even boilers and main engines of the "Amagi" and "Kii" classes should be exactly the same design, except that the broadside armor of the "Kii" class was increased from 10 inches to inches of the "Amagi" class, and the main horizontal armor was increased from 3.75 inches to 4.625 inches.

Fujimoto's design was met with resolute opposition from Hiraga Jean, who had always considered himself "orthodox". In order to have overwhelming firepower, Hiraga advocated that the Amagi class adopt the traditional "British Stream" gun arrangement, equipped with five twin 410 mm main turrets, in the same configuration as the "Kaga" class, but with a 45x diameter main gun replaced by a 50x diameter main gun in trial production. On the basis of the design of the "Amagi" class, Hiraga made the armor of the main parts of the "Amagi" class thicker, and directly used it in the design of the "Kii" class battleships, that is, the "Kii" class was designed as a version of the "Amagi" class battleships.

Fujimoto Kikuo and Hega Rang were still arguing there at this time, and at this time, they did not think about it, nor did they think about what kind of consequences the Japanese Navy would bring to Japan if it spared no effort to implement such a huge shipbuilding program.

Tianjin, Dagukou Naval Base.

At this time, Liu Guanxiong, who was standing in front of the fort, looked at the "Glorious" battle cruiser moored in the distance, and his heart fluctuated for a while, and he couldn't help himself.

Although Liu Guanxiong had a certain degree of psychological preparation for his deputy, Yang Shuoming, who was also the patrol envoy of the two Guangzhous and the maritime frontier, showed himself the results of the fulfillment of the promise he had made at the beginning, but when he saw this giant ship flying the flag of the Chinese Navy, he still could not suppress the excitement in his heart.

"With such a good ship, I wonder if I'm dreaming." Li He, who was standing beside Liu Guanxiong, muttered to himself.

"If Li Zhongtang and Xiang Chenggong are still there, they will have no regrets if they can see with their own eyes that our Chinese Navy has such a huge ship." Liu Guanxiong said, "It's a pity that ......"

"If only we in China could build such warships on our own." Li He said.

"The shipyard at Yangshan Port has already started construction." Liu Guanxiong said, "A few days ago, Yang Hanzhi sent a letter, mentioning that Mawei Shipyard is not conducive to the construction of large ships due to the port site problem, and is preparing to build another shipyard and port in Yangshan Port and Hutou, Fujian. ”

"That's great," Li He shouted excitedly, but he suddenly thought of something else, and his expression became a little gloomy.

"He, Yang Hanzhi, got so many huge ships from the United States, I'm afraid that he won't have much money left in his hand, right?" Li He looked at the "Glorious" battlecruiser in front of him and said, "These ships alone will be veritable gold-swallowing beasts in the future."

"Yes, I'm also worried that he, the Maritime Patrol Envoy, will spread the stall too big and won't be able to support it then." A trace of worry flashed in Liu Guanxiong's eyes, "I heard that after the Japanese knew that we had these ships, they also began to desperately build ships to catch up, and many people in Japan opposed the Japanese Navy's shipbuilding plan, thinking that it would drag down Japan's economy." ”,

"The sea breeze is very cold, you don't go to sea often, you have to pay attention to your body." Fu Zhuoyao took a military coat from Xi Xue and draped it on Yang Shuoming's body.

Yang Shuoming put on his coat and nodded slightly at her to show his gratitude.

At this time, Fu Zhuoyao's face also looked a little pale, Yang Shuoming knew that she was not very suitable for sea navigation, and said: "If you still feel uncomfortable, go to Miss Liu to ask for some medicine for seasickness." ”

Fu Zhuoyao smiled slightly, shook her head, turned around and got off the bridge, Xi Xue watched her back leave, and a trace of doubt flashed in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Yang Shuoming noticed the slight change in Xi Xue's expression and asked.

"There's a report here, I heard it was transferred from Japan." Xi Xue said, handing a sealed bag to Yang Shuoming.

Yang Shuoming noticed the seal on the seal of the pocket, frowned, opened the pocket, his eyes quickly swept over the short report, and his brows quickly relaxed.

"The Japanese are really fast," Yang Shuoming said to himself, "but that's exactly what I want." ”

The report in his possession is the latest information and comprehensive analysis of the Japanese Government's budget for the Navy.

In 1918, when the Japanese government finally determined that the Chinese Navy had six powerful "Republican" class battleships, the Japanese navy top brass was shocked, so it proposed to add 2 battleships and 2 battlecruisers to the 1918 budget with a construction budget of 146.81 million yen; According to the results of the Second Battle of Helgolan Bay, a few more light cruisers that are "more capable of striking power" will be built, so the construction cost of a total of 8 light cruisers, including "Nagara", "Natori", and "Isuzu", should be added 181.95 million yen; "In consideration of the fact that the combat capability of the navy's warships should not be inferior to that of foreign navies," we added 42,790,000 yen to the "ship improvement fee" for the ships that had already started construction. In addition, taking into account the high prices since Japan's entry into the war, and the "price difference" of 8.99 million yen, the total above is 386.84 million yen.

Although the Japanese Navy was half-hearted about participating in the European War, after several unexpected battles, the battleships "Katori", "Kashima", "Mikasa", "Hizen", "Asahi", "Shikishima" and the battlecruisers "Kurama", "Ibuki", "Ikoma" and other capital ships were all sunk, and in addition to the four battleships "Satsuma", "Aki", "Kawachi" and "Settsu" lost during the invasion of China, the only capital ships of the Japanese Navy that were less than 8 years old were left with the battleship "Fuso". Yamashiro", "Ise", "Hyuga" and 4 "Kongo" class battle cruisers.

The main imaginary enemy of the Japanese Navy was the U.S. Navy, which suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Celtic Sea, but still had four powerful Colorado-class battleships with 16-inch guns, and soon 10 battleships and six battlecruisers were about to start. Leaving aside the old ships and the capital ships that have sunk in battle, the US Navy still has the upper hand in strength compared with the Japanese Navy, and if we add the capital ships of the two countries that have already passed the budget but have not yet started construction, this gap will continue to widen, and with the shipbuilding capacity of the United States, it is obvious that the Japanese Navy will be caught up by the United States in a very short period of time and will be left far behind.

And now, with the addition of the Chinese Navy, which already has the strength to compete with the Japanese Navy.

Under such prospects, the Japanese Navy made further requests. In June 1919, the Japanese Navy submitted a new budget allocation request to the National Defense Council: from Taisho 12 to Taisho 15 1923-1926, the battleships of the "Fuso" class and the "Ise" class will be 8 years old and become second-line battleships, and the "Kongo" class battlecruisers will also be 8 years old; By the 16th year of Taisho 1927, only two Nagato-class ships, two Kaga-class ships, and four Amagi-class ships equipped with 16-inch guns were less than eight years old, so in the seven years from 1920 to 1927, it was necessary to build four more battleships and four battlecruisers to achieve the goal of consolidating Japan's maritime security.

According to the Japanese Navy's estimates, the cost of a single ship of the "Nagato" class battleships is 26.92 million yen, and the cost of a single ship of the "Amagi" class battlecruisers is 24.69 million yen. According to the estimates of the Navy's Ship Administration Headquarters and shipyards, the cost of a single ship of the Kii-class battleships was 36.45 million yen, and the cost of the Misaku-class battleships was 37.42 million yen, which was 17 times the unit price of the "Fengfeng" class destroyers built during the same period. Combined with the construction cost of building 12 new light cruisers, 32 destroyers, and other auxiliary ships such as submarines and gunboats, the total amount is 680,360,000 yen. Including prices, the actual amount of funds required was 761,110,000 yen. In 1919, when the plan was proposed, the national budget for the next fiscal year was only 144172 million yen. At that time, in order to raise financial resources, the Japanese government had already introduced a liquor tax, raised income tax and business tax, and temporarily suspended the repayment of its national debt internally. However, in December 1919, the National Defense Council submitted the "88th Fleet" bill to the 42nd Diet of the Diet, but the Diet was dissolved in February of the following year, so the budget was not established. In June 1920, the 43rd session of the Japanese House of Representatives was convened, and the National Defense Council reintroduced the bill, which was finally approved. ,

Since Meiji 40, the Japanese Navy's dream of the "88th Fleet" has been carried out for 13 years, and now it has finally been realized. However, it can be said that the Japanese nation and people cannot afford to compete with the United States, which has a per capita income six times its own and a total income of 12 times its own, with Japan's national strength.

Many people of insight in Japan have also criticized Japan's current situation of economic difficulties due to the expansion of its navy. Japanese naval correspondent Masanori Ito wrote: "Since the third year of Taisho, the argument of completing the '88th Fleet' has become a hot topic in China, and by the end of the ninth year of Taisho, this idea has become a reality. However, the '88th Fleet' existed on the premise that the U.S. fleet was an imaginary enemy, and if Japan and the United States could reach an agreement and the U.S. Navy agreed to downsize, it would be a blessing to the Japanese and American peoples. Later critics may say that the decision to abolish the '88th Fleet' was the 'wisdom of the red deer,'" but I don't know if these people thought about it, and if the '88th Fleet' was unilaterally downsized, it would indeed bring danger to Japan's national defense, but if the '88th Fleet' case was carried out, it would plunge Japan into the abyss of financial ruin and armament. Some Chinese people are arrogant and think that enduring suffering, dedicating salaries, and cutting down on food and clothing to build the '88th Fleet' is a sign of patriotism, but in fact it is a big mistake. In the next few years, Japan will certainly continue along the following path: the naval military expenditure will be raised to 600 million yen, taxes will be raised, the people will be greatly distressed, financial constraints will be tight, and the size of the naval fleet will have to be reduced on its own. This is also self-defeating without a fight. Such a conclusion is actually self-explanatory......"

"I think that future facts will prove that the Japanese journalist's concerns are completely justified." After reading the report, Yang Shuoming sneered and said.

id="BookTexts">