~~~~~~~~~~~~ following the large-scale naval arms race between the Chinese Empire and the United States, stimulated by this, the major European powers also launched their own shipbuilding plans to compete with them.

The first to bear the brunt of the matter was naturally the British Royal Navy, which had the strongest naval industry.

In the winter of the ninth year of Guanghua (December 1909), the British intelligence bureau MI5 (Division 5) obtained information related to the Han Wu Emperor-class battleship and Jin Wudi-class battlecruiser projects under construction at the Huangpu Shipyard of the Chinese Imperial Navy, as well as the US Navy's New York-class battleship and Seattle-class battlecruiser programs.

The intelligence was compiled to the British Ministry of Defense, Secretary of State for Defense, Field Marshal Walter? Lord Kerr and Sea Secretary Fisher immediately led the organization of the Superbow Battleship Research Committee to study the Superbow warship projects in China and the United States, as well as to conduct a comprehensive assessment report based on the situation of the dreadnoughts in their own countries.

"We must build a new class of superbow battleships and battle cruisers to counter the threat from the Imperial Chinese Navy and the U.S. Navy."

For the first time, Fisher changed the word dreadnought to the Divine Bow in his work report, which proved that the British Navy finally recognized that the Chinese Imperial Divine Bow warships were superior to their Dreadnought, and also represented the British Navy's recognition of the leading position and influence of the Chinese Imperial Navy in the world.

"The budget for a single ship has risen to £4 million for the battleships, and the budget for the battlecruisers has soared to more than £6 million, and we have just suffered a heavy war and can't afford this huge sum."

"So are we going to sit back and watch the naval power of China and the United States ride on top of us? Did the Royal Navy of the British Empire give up global sea power? ”

"If you can't take it out, you have to find a way! We must defend the dignity of the Empire! ”

The committee and others talked endlessly, wanting to save the face of the British Imperial Navy, but also did not want to pay for it.

Eventually, Kerr said: "If we don't allocate funds to the Navy to build ships, then our remaining colonies in Indochina and Canada will have to be occupied by the Chinese Empire or the United States." ”

The Canadian colonies were secondary, and their economic supply to Britain was far less than that of the Indian colonies. If the Indian colonies were lost, it would be a huge blow to Britain's economy.

In particular, it was mentioned that the Chinese Empire was about to occupy India, and the officials suddenly remembered the Sino-British War, and they were beaten half to death by the Chinese Empire.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Aiden then asked, "What is your plan?" ”

Fisher then said: "Our navy must defeat the Chinese Imperial Navy to take revenge, although we are not sparing effort now, but we must at least maintain our superiority over the Chinese Imperial Navy, otherwise if the Chinese Empire forms an alliance with Germany again, we must be prepared to fight with the Chinese and German navies at the same time." ”

Aiden nodded and asked, "Just say it!" As long as it is for the cause of the Imperial Navy, I will understand. ”

Fisher looked at Kerr, who nodded, and said, "Our request is that for every capital ship that the Chinese Empire builds, we will build two capital ships, and we must prevent the recurrence of the events of 1904." ”

The 1904 incident in Fisher's mouth was that the Chinese Empire suddenly frantically built 18 Shenbow-type capital ships, but Britain did not pay attention to it, so that the Sino-British War broke out suddenly, and the British Navy was caught off guard, which eventually caused Britain to lose the war and suffer heavy losses.

Aiden shook his head and said, "No! That's too much! Our empire is now restoring economic order and can't come up with so much money. ”

Fisher said: "Isn't the lesson of the Anglo-Chinese war enough? We lost a billion pounds, and this money, if it had been given to the Navy, would not have happened at all. ”

Aiden couldn't refute it for a moment. At this time, Kerr persuaded: "I hope you can help us convince the Prime Minister that at present, the German navy is expanding rapidly, and we are almost unable to hold the North Sea, let alone fight against the Chinese Imperial Navy." ”

Aiden saw that the marshal had spoken, and he couldn't object directly, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go with you to see His Excellency the Prime Minister." ”

After everyone persuaded Aiden, it was not long before they persuaded British Prime Minister David, and finally the British Parliament approved an emergency budget of up to 50 million pounds for naval military spending, called the Temporary Naval Enlargement Act of 1909.

After the introduction of this law, the British Navy was allowed to build eight battleships and four battlecruisers, all of which were superbow-type battleships.

In the winter of 1909, in order to cope with the pressure of the naval shipbuilding competition with the Chinese Empire, the United States, and Germany, Britain began a large-scale construction program of supernatural bow warships.

The Royal Navy's newly designed four Orion-class battleships focused on improving their firepower, which was completely different from the previous British-built battleships, known as the "Super Dreadnought-class" battleships in the United Kingdom, and the Super Bow class battleships in the world, and became the design blueprint for the subsequent British super dreadnoughts, the King George V-class battleships and the Iron Duke-class battleships (also known as the Type 1909 battleships).

In order to maintain the British Navy's superior position in firepower, the British Naval Engineering Department planned to install a new 14-inch gun to replace the original 12-inch main gun. For the first time on a British dreadnought, the main gun turrets were all arranged along the longitudinal central axis of the hull, with five twin-mounted main turrets, two of each of the bow and stern of the hull, and one amidships behind the chimney, which was convenient for all the main guns to develop the same side fire. Since then, the battleship has abandoned the design of arranging the main turret on the side of the ship, and the main turret is all arranged on the center line of the hull to promote the side-firing firepower has become the mainstream. The Orion class further strengthened the defensive armor in the vital area. In order to control the weight, the Orion class did away with the rear main mast that had been marked by British battleships.

At the same time, the British Royal Navy learned that the battleships of the Chinese Empire had an advanced central fire control system, so the British Navy also carried out relevant development research, and installed a central fire control system on the battleship Thor for the first time. Sir Scott's invention of the firing director was mounted on the platform of the main mast. The fire control center controls the firing and aiming of each gun on the ship, and when the main gun is fired in a salvo, it can concentrate on observing and correcting the impact point and calculate the shooting elements in a unified manner, and it becomes relatively easy for the gun to adjust the direction and aim at the target according to the command, and the experiment proves that the hit rate is doubled.

There are 4 ships of the same class as the Orion-class battleships: Orion, Monarch, Conqueror, and Thunderer, which were built by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Armstrong Shipyard, Bodmoor Shipyard, and Thames Steel, respectively.

Although in terms of firepower, the Orion-class battleships were equipped with 10 14-inch cannons, which was one more 356-mm main gun than the Han Wu Emperor class of the Chinese Empire, but the British slipway did not have a 30,000-ton one, and finally the British Naval Engineering Department made adjustments to the armor and reduced the armor protection to reduce the weight.

As a result, the Orion-class battleship equipped with 14-inch main guns had a displacement of only 25,870 tons, and the length was limited by the slipway, and the shape became round, and the length of the ship was only 177 meters. Fisher felt great regret for Britain for the loss of Parsons, the steam turbine system produced by the existing British engine company Hamilson was far inferior to the Parsons system, and finally made the Orion battleship only 21 knots, 3 knots slower than the Han Wu Emperor class of the Chinese Empire.

In terms of armor, in order to reduce the displacement, the Orion-class battleships have a main armor belt (maximum) of only 12.5 inches, a turret (frontal) of 12 inches, a gun mount of 10 inches, and a conning tower of 11 inches.

The other four of the eight battleships were King George V-class battleships, which were slight improvements on the Orion-class battleships, but because of the time constraints, the Chinese Empire was planning to complete the construction of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships in less than two years, with the intention of surpassing Britain in naval industrial capacity. For this reason, in order to maintain its superiority in naval power over China, the British Navy immediately began construction of the George V-class battleships a few months after the construction of four Orion-class battleships.

Since there was no time for further design, the George V-class battleships made some changes in terms of protection design, the upper armor between the bow A turret and the stern Y turret formed a continuous protection area, the secondary gun protective armor was strengthened, and the mainmast position was changed, the three-legged mainmast was moved to the front chimney, the overall surname was improved, and other aspects did not change much.

The four George V-class battleships were HMS George V (HMSKINGGEV), USS Centurion (HMSSCENTURION), HMS Audacious (HMSAUDACIOUS), and HMS Ajax (HMSAJAX), among which HMS Bold and USS Centurion were sunk by the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the Sino-British War, and the British Navy was unwilling to lose to the Imperial Chinese Navy, so they did not remove the sunken battleships, but gave them a new mission. The implication is that he is preparing to take revenge on the Imperial Chinese Navy and regain his honor one day.

The Lion-class battlecruisers were designed with lightened armor on the basis of the Orion-class battleships. In order to avoid the recurrence of the one-sided sea slaughter like the Battle of the Atlantic, the British Navy invested heavily in battle cruisers in order to protect its own life supply lines, and built more than a dozen battle cruisers one after another, so it required the construction of newly designed battle cruisers, and part of this payment came from the "shipbuilding tax", Therefore, the new ship naturally became the focus of public attention.

The "Lion" class is the first time that the British target is the opponent's battle cruiser of the same class (Jin Wudi class), equipped with 8 14-inch caliber main guns, all of which are arranged in the middle line, and the overall surname can be much improved compared with the previous level. During the design phase, there was a debate within the Royal Navy about "speed or armor", and in the end, the traditional speed faction took over, and the design required the "Lion" class to reach a maximum speed of 27 knots. To do this, it was necessary to install 42 bulky boilers - 11 more than the "Indefatigable" class, which also made the ship more than 200 meters long.

To this end, the British Admiralty expanded the slipways of several major shipyards as quickly as possible, so that they could be used to build warships of more than 200 meters.

However, the improvement of the protection capabilities of this class of ships was limited, and the armor thickness was only 9 inches, which was thinner than the Seattle-class battle cruisers of the United States, and could not withstand the attacks of the large-caliber guns of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

Of course, the British Navy knew very well that their class of battlecruisers was not used against German battle cruisers, but against the battle cruisers of the Chinese Empire, in order to prevent the Chinese Empire from cutting off the sea supply lines again. Originally, the battle cruiser was used to deal with armored cruisers, but after the Sino-British Atlantic naval battle, the armored cruisers of various countries no longer dared to show off their might at sea, and the British battle cruisers were to deal with the battle cruisers of the Chinese Empire.

But it was clear that in the event of a battle between the two sides, the thin-skinned battlecruisers of the British Navy would definitely suffer.

Faced with the British Navy's expansion plan of 1909, the German Navy was not to be outdone. Since the German Navy imported twelve Divine Bow battleships of the Natsu, Helgoland, and Caesar classes from the Chinese Empire, the German Navy already had its own construction capabilities, and had to admire the learning speed of the Germans, which was faster than the Chinese Empire learned from the British.

Originally, the German Admiralty still had the idea of purchasing the next class of King-class battleships from the Chinese Empire, but as the price of the Chinese Empire's Han Wu Emperor-class battleships soared to 20 million yuan, even though Germany had the money, it could not afford such a high cost, and the German Junker nobles asked the Admiralty to order equipment from the mainland, and the Germans built their own ships, so the German Admiralty finally gave up purchasing King-class battleships from the Chinese Empire and built them domestically.

The King class is an improved version of the Caesar-class battleship, and the layout of the Caesar-class main gun turret is improved, and the King-class should have been the first class battleship built by Germany itself, at this time Germany has successfully copied the 305 mm 50-fold main gun of the Chinese Empire, and according to the Shengong-class battleship, all the main guns are arranged along the center line of the hull. The two main turrets in the bow and stern of the hull are backpack-type, and there is a main turret in the amidships, and all the main turrets are arranged along the center line of the hull, which can ensure that the firepower of all the main guns is exerted when firing a salvo on the side of the ship, which is conducive to strengthening the armor defense capability, and at the same time improving the watertight compartment of the hull, and the overall protection can be improved. The power system used to use all oil-fired boilers, but because the technology was not up to standard, it was canceled and changed to a coal-fired boiler, and the steam turbine system was an authorized production line imported from the Chinese Empire, for which a technology transfer fee of 5 million yuan was paid to the Chinese Empire Beiyang Power Group.

In order to counter the British Navy's Giant-class battleships, the German Navy's King-class displacement reached 25,796 tons, 3-shaft propulsion, 2 rudder parallel configurations, design speed 21 knots, endurance 8,000 nautical miles/12 knots, 2,400 nautical miles/21 knots: 10 305 mm/50 times caliber main guns (5 twin turrets), 14 single 150 mm/45 times caliber secondary guns; 10 single-mounted 88-mm guns; 5 500 mm torpedo tubes (underwater installation).

Because the German Navy attached great importance to defensive forces and did not pursue speed with the British Navy, although the King-class battleships were only equipped with 305 mm main guns, the broadside armor was as high as 350 mm, and the turret front was 320 mm; Conning tower 350 mm.

In this way, the King-class completely overpowered the Giant-class battleships that had just been completed in Britain.

Similarly, construction began on the Moltke-class battlecruisers at the end of 1908, and the design of the Brüchcher-class battlecruisers was improved to further enhance the level of protection and firepower. The bow of the hull was extended to the stern, and a main turret was added to the stern, which was a knapsack layout, using a 50-caliber 305 mm main gun, which was more powerful than the British 12-inch main gun and lighter.

Equipped with 10 305/50x diameter guns, 12 150mm secondary guns, and 12 88mm rapid-fire guns, the Moltke-class battlecruiser was more powerful than the British Invincible. Moreover, the Germans attached great importance to defense, and the Moltke-class waterline armor belt of 270 mm, watertight compartment partition 150, turret 250 mm, and conning tower reached 350 mm, both in terms of the number and power of the main guns, and in terms of armor protection, it was enough to defeat any British first-class battle cruiser, and could pose a mortal threat to the fragile defensive armor of the British same type of battle cruisers.

The German Navy cheered for the four King-class and four Moltke-class capital ships, believing that the German Navy would surpass the British Navy, but within three months of the start of construction of the eight capital ships, the international naval situation suddenly changed dramatically.

With the large-scale naval arms race between the Chinese Empire and the United States, the New York-class battleships of the US Navy were equipped with 343 mm guns, and the Chinese Empire raised the caliber of the main guns to 356 mm in one go. The British Navy, forced by the Chinese Empire and the United States, also began to build Orion-class and George V-class battleships with 356 mm guns in caliber, and built eight in one go, which greatly stimulated the German Navy.

The German Navy's four King-class ships had just begun to be built, and the 305-mm guns they carried were clearly no match for them, and there were only four of them, which were far behind the British Navy in numbers, so the King-class was immediately redesigned shortly after the start of construction.

Through the efforts of the German Naval Engineering Department, the standard displacement of the newly designed King-class battleship was 29,000 tons, and it was limited by the fact that Germany did not have a large slipway of 30,000 tons, and could not build a hull of more than 30,000 tons. Fortunately, the armor of the German King-class battleships was set at a height of 350 mm from the beginning, so it could withstand British 14-inch shells, but the most important thing was the caliber of the main gun.

Although the German Naval Engineering Department successfully copied the 305-mm 50-fold extension main gun of the Chinese Empire, it is also developing a 320-mm caliber main gun system. The German Navy originally thought that it would gradually grasp the technology, but unexpectedly, the British did not give the Germans time to reserve technology, and suddenly raised the caliber of the main gun to 356 mm, so that the German Navy Engineering Department could not complete the 356 mm main gun before the hull was launched next year, and even 343 mm was impossible.

Therefore, the German Admiralty had to abandon the independent localization of the King-class battleships again and instead import 356 mm 45 times the high-power cannon to the Chinese Empire.

Similarly, as a reduced protection improvement of the King-class battleship, the Moltke-class battlecruiser with a 305-mm main gun is obviously not the opponent of the British Lion-class 356-mm cannon, so the Moltke-class battlecruiser had to import a 356-mm cannon from the Chinese Empire, and at the same time, in order to ensure the speed, it had to reduce the armor protection, which was the same as the armor protection of the British Lion-class battlecruiser, but the speed was not as good as the Lion-class, which caused the German Navy's Moltke-class battle cruiser to be inferior to the British Lion-class battle cruiser from the beginning of construction.

Strategically, however, Germany won. Because the eight German battle cruisers could form a battle cruiser fleet and go out to the Atlantic, once they fought against the British, they would learn the tactics of the Imperial Chinese Navy and play a battle with the British Navy. The British Navy had only 12 battle cruisers, and their deployment in the vast Atlantic Ocean could no longer fully protect Britain's supply lines at sea.

However, in 1909 only four King-class battleships were in operation in Germany, which was half the number of British battleships in 1909. At the request of Wilhelm II, German Admiral Minister Tirpitz added four King-class battleships, so that the German Navy had eight battleships in 1909, which was not weaker than that of the British. As a result, the large-scale naval arms race between Britain and Germany intensified sharply during the year, further exacerbating tensions in Europe.

As a sworn enemy of Germany and an ally of Britain, the French navy had a clear division of labor with the British navy, with the French navy controlling the Mediterranean Sea and the British navy controlling the North Sea and the English Channel. The French Navy did not have to directly compete with the German Navy, but the French Navy had to face the pressure of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Italian Navy, and at the same time the Chinese Empire took over the Cyprus naval base that originally belonged to the United Kingdom. The Imperial Chinese Navy could reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet with powerful capital ships from other regions.

Therefore, although the Chinese Empire can downplay its maritime influence in the Mediterranean, as the world's largest naval power, the Chinese Imperial Navy's presence at this time will arouse the jealousy of nearby countries.

To this end, the French navy set out to use Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Chinese Empire as its main maritime rivals. Due to the fact that the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy imported advanced Shenbow-type battleships from the Chinese Empire, resulting in an imbalance of power in the Mediterranean, the French Navy had to start construction of four Normandy-class battleships (Normandie, Gascoigne, Flandre, Languedoc) and four Terrible-class battlecruisers (Terrible, Caiman, Indomptable, Requin).

Of the eight capital ships, four Normandy-class battleships were copied from the Shang Wang-class battleships of the Chinese Empire, and half of the equipment was imported from the Chinese Empire and built on the French mainland. The design displacement was 23000 tons, and the increased displacement was allocated to the addition of boilers and steam turbine drivetrains, as well as the redistribution of the weight of the armor due to the increase in the caliber of the main gun to 13 inches. Four twin 330 mm 45 times extended main guns and 28 twin 102 mm rapid-fire guns made it quite formidable, and the main armor belt was not as good as the Shang Wang class of the Chinese Empire, because France thought that the Chinese special steel of the Chinese Empire was too expensive and the French could not afford it, so it was reduced from 330 mm to 280 mm. Similarly, the steam turbine system of the Chinese Empire was more expensive, and the French bought three sets and copied one set of Type 06 Parsons steam turbines themselves, which resulted in a lower speed than the Shang Wang-class battleships, only 20.8 knots.

The other four battlecruisers were modeled after the Imperial Chinese Empire's King Zhou Lie-class battlecruisers, carrying four twin 330 mm 45 x diameter guns and 24 102 mm rapid-fire guns. Similarly, due to financial constraints, the armor protection of the Dreadful-class battle patrol has also been greatly reduced, only 250 mm, and the speed is not as good as the 28 knots of the Zhou Lie-level battle patrol, only 26.5 knots.

The French Navy finally got the money to build eight capital ships, but 10 months after the start of construction of the eight capital ships, seeing that the hull was about to be completed and launched, at this time the four countries of China, the United States, Britain and Germany launched a more fierce arms race, making the eight capital ships of the French Navy obsolete before they were launched.

The French Navy wants to urgently renovate and raise the caliber of the main gun to 356 mm, but the French fiscal deficit this year is too large to have a budget for the French Navy. At the same time, the eight capital ships built by the French Navy could no longer be changed, and the result of forcibly carrying 356-mm naval guns could only be that they could not float, or barely float and disintegrate as soon as a battle began. Unable to change it, the French Navy had no choice but to resign to its fate.

Because France's financial resources could not support such a large-scale naval arms race, from this round onwards, the French Navy's Super Bow battleship project began to lag behind, and then the French Navy could only passively upgrade its naval equipment, except for self-preservation, it had no strong ability, and gradually fell from the world's third naval power to the sixth in the world, surpassed by the United States and Germany.

At a time when Europe and the United States were both provoked by the Chinese Empire to engage in a huge and fierce naval arms race, the Chinese Empire, as the dominant power in Asia, focused more on selling warships to European and American countries.

Instigating a large-scale arms race among the major powers of Europe and the United States is just a tactic, and the Chinese Empire occupies the position of a major ship-building and powerful country, and it is the right way to actively sell its own warships to the outside world to make money.

Due to the mediocre performance of the Greek Navy in the Balkans, the Greek Navy was powerless to resist in the face of a large number of new warships imported by the Turkish Navy from the Chinese Empire.

In the face of the blockade of the Aegean Sea by the Turkish Navy, the Greek Navy had nothing to do. At the same time, Greece received a large number of islands in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas after the First Balkan War. In order to protect the islands from other countries, the Greek Navy had to seek foreign aid.

However, at this moment, the major shipbuilding powers in Europe are nervously building warships for their own countries, although the United States has many shipyards, but unfortunately the United States [***] ships and the Greek Navy are not eye-catching, so they can only import from the Chinese Empire. At the same time, Greece saw the strength of the Chinese Navy after defeating the British Navy. and the Chinese Empire's possession of a naval base in Cyprus near Greece, which served as a detractor to both the Greek and Turkish navies. It was thanks to the support of the Chinese Imperial Navy that the Turkish Navy became arrogant, so the Greek Navy wanted to have good relations with the Chinese Empire. Ordering warships from the Chinese Empire could not only meet the needs of the Greek Navy, but also establish relations with the Chinese Empire, giving them the best of both worlds.

Therefore, out of awe and curry favor with the Imperial Chinese Navy, the Greek political axe expressed its intention to make friends with the Chinese Imperial political axe and purchase ships.

The Greek ambassador to China conveyed the request of the Greek navy, which was immediately sent to the Imperial Chinese Diet for consideration.

The Greek Navy wanted to acquire the latest Han Wu Emperor-class battleships of the Chinese Empire, and it wanted to order two in one go.

After learning that the Greek Navy wanted to order the latest type of battleships of the Chinese Empire, the House of Representatives of the Imperial Assembly immediately agreed to the request of the Greek Navy and prepared to build new battleships for them, and set the unit price at 23 million dragon coins each. The House of Representatives is naturally to make money, however, when the Greek Navy's request for the purchase of ships was submitted to the Imperial Senate, the military representatives of the Senate put forward different opinions, because the Han Wu Emperor class battleship, as the most advanced battleship of the Chinese Imperial Navy, is still under construction, if it is exported to the Greek Navy, with the relationship between Greece and Britain, Britain will soon obtain the technical parameters of this class of ships, which is not good for the Chinese Imperial Navy.

The Senate and the House of Representatives disagreed, and the Cabinet and the military also disagreed, so Prime Minister Zhang Feng and Minister of National Defense Wang Shizhen immediately entered the palace to ask Emperor Wang Chenhao for instructions.

In the Qinzheng Hall of the Forbidden City, after the pre-imperial meeting, Zhang Yunfeisuo surnamed "judged" the military and the government in the Qinzheng Palace.

Zhang Feng first said: "Your Majesty, although the empire is financially abundant, the comprehensive strength of the empire is still far from that of the major developed countries in Europe and the United States, and more funds should be invested in economic construction. The more the army spends, the more detrimental it is to the development of the country, especially the navy, which is a money-eating machine, and the cost of a capital warship has reached 30 million yuan (referring to the battle patrol), which is expensive and the maintenance cost is even more amazing. Although the strategic purpose of the empire is to stimulate the arms race of European and American countries, I have no objection to this, but the navy also serves the country, so why not do it when it comes to a business that can make money? You must know that the Greek Navy ordered two battleships, which could bring 46 million yuan in revenue to the empire. ”

"That's a mistake! You only see making money, but you ignore the leakage of military technology! Wang Shizhen objected: "Your Majesty, it is true that I have no objection to building ships for the Greek Navy, and I think that the sale of building ships is too profitable, and it is a good thing for the country and the people." However, the Greek Navy wants to order the latest battleships under construction in our Navy, but Greece is too close to the Entente, once we build the Han Wu the Great class battleships for the Greek Navy, then the British will soon learn the inside information, our battleships are known to the British, and they can absorb our advanced technology and counter our weaknesses. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, he understood Zhang Feng's considerations, he was starting from the country's economic construction, obviously building ships for the Greek Navy can earn a lot of foreign exchange and balance the financial expenditure brought by the large-scale construction of ships in the Navy. Wang Chenhao also understands Wang Shizhen's considerations, and he is starting from the national strategic direction. Since all countries are engaged in an arms race, the technical level of warships of each country is only speculation among each other, and the intelligence possession is limited. Once the Chinese Empire exported the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships to the Greek Navy, the Greek Navy would know the design parameters of the battleships of that class, and then the British Navy would know. If the British Navy underestimated the strength of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships before, then it would have promoted the British battleships under construction to fight against them, and if the British overestimated the surname of the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships before, then their newly built battleships would be at ease and could rest assured. In that case, the Chinese empire would lose the qualification to lead the naval arms race.

Both of them make sense, Wang Chenhao thought about it, and then said: "It's better to do this, compromise." The battleships exported to the Greek Navy will raise the standard, and a more advanced battleship will be designed for the Greek Navy, and the price will be raised, so that it will make money, and it can scare the British Navy, and at the same time it can satisfy the vanity of the Greek Navy, and it can stimulate the heating up of the situation in the Balkans in the Aegean Sea, maybe Turkey will also look for us to build warships. ”

"Build more advanced battleships?" Wang Shizhen asked puzzled.

Wang Chenhao explained to him with a smile: "Shizhen, you don't have to be too nervous, although after the Sino-British War, Britain regarded us as the biggest enemy, it can be said that they hate us to the core, and they don't want to take revenge all the time." However, you should see the current international situation, Britain hates us right, but they don't have time to deal with us, and one Germany is enough to drag Britain down. Therefore, we should not be too nervous about Britain's retaliation, but instead provoke a major war between the European Entente and the Central Powers, weaken the overall power of Europe, and provide an opportunity for the East to regain world dominance in the future. ”

Zhang Feng understood what Wang Chenhao meant, so he said: "Your Majesty means that if we build more advanced battleships for the Greek Navy, Britain will think that our export models are so advanced, and the self-use ones will be more powerful, which is a show of strength to Britain, so that Britain will not dare to underestimate us, but it will stimulate Britain to build stronger battleships, so as to continue to promote a large-scale arms race between Europe and the United States." At the same time, the acquisition of the most advanced battleships by the Greek Navy will inevitably provoke a conflict in the Balkans, which will worsen the situation, and once the powder keg of Europe explodes, a major war between the Allies and the Entente will inevitably occur, and Britain will have no time and energy to seek revenge on the Empire. Even if there is no war, the hostile countries around Greece will not be reconciled and will order warships from the Empire, and we will still be able to make more profits. ”

Wang Chenhao smiled and nodded, and at this time Wang Shizhen also understood, so he said: "Hearing Your Majesty say this, Weichen has a bottom in his heart." ”

Wang Chenhao nodded and said: "The game between countries often relies on these small countries to convey information, true and false, false and real. By building Greece the most advanced battleships, we were telling Britain that we were stronger, and that we were more feared and valued by the British than we boasted about how powerful our battleships were. ”

Wang Shizhen nodded knowingly and said, "Your Majesty Shengming, the minister has been taught!" In that case, then the minister has no objection, but Brazil, Chile and Argentina have recently been interested in this regard, and since we can export to the most advanced battleships of Greece, then between Brazil, Chile and Argentina, this strategy can also be adopted. ”

Wang Chenhao and Zhang Feng glanced at each other and laughed.

In this way, after the mediation of Emperor Wang Chenhao, the Congress finally approved the request of the Greek Navy to build advanced battleships for the Greek Navy. Due to the very high-profile announcement of the Chinese Empire that it would build the most advanced warships for the Greek Navy, this move immediately triggered the neighboring countries of Greece, as well as other countries that wanted to import advanced warships from the Chinese Empire, they submitted requests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire to order advanced warships.

For a time, orders for naval shipbuilding from more than a dozen countries fell into the Chinese Empire.

The Chinese Empire was going to build the most advanced battleships for the Greek Navy, a matter that immediately made the Greek Navy ecstatic.

At this time, the world's most advanced Han Wu Emperor-class, Orion-class and King-class battleships will be equipped with 356mm cannons, and the Greek Navy is also a fanatic who advocates the cannonism of giant ships, believing that the greater the number of main guns, the greater the hope of victory.

Considering that the Han Wu Emperor-class battleships were already equipped with triple 14-inch cannons, the Greek Navy hoped that the Salamis-class superbow-type battleships built for it by the Chinese Empire could carry larger caliber and more guns.

As a result, the designers of the General Engineering Administration of the Chinese Empire immediately upgraded the drawings of the Tang-class battleship, the next battleship of the Chinese Empire, which was being designed, for use in the Salamis-class of the Greek Navy.

In order to consolidate its superior position in battleship firepower, the Imperial Chinese Navy decided to install 15-inch guns on the Salamis-class battleships to replace the original 14.5-inch guns at the strong suggestion of the Minister of the Navy Deng Shichang. In order to catch up with the progress of the trial production and manufacture of the 15-inch caliber main gun at the same time, fortunately, the artillery experts of the Chinese Empire have been prepared in this regard, and the super cannon of the German artillery expert Rosenberg has given the naval artillery experts experience, and the trial production work is progressing smoothly, and it is expected to be completed in the next eight months, and it can be loaded in time.

Due to the weight of the main guns and the increased power, the three triple 15-inch 40-fold cannons made the battleships of this class look extremely formidable. Together with 12 6-inch/45-caliber secondary guns, 2 76mm guns, and 4 533mm torpedo tubes, this class of ships has powerful firepower and can be called the strongest battleship in the world.

In terms of armor, in order to save weight, instead of an exaggerated installation of 15-inch main armor, it was only 13 inches, and the turret front was also 13 inches, the gun mount was 10 inches, the conning tower was 11 inches, and the total armor weight was 8100 tons.

The reduction in armor protection was mainly due to the Greek Navy's desire to increase its speed, which would drop to 20 knots if 15 inches of armor were installed. The Greek Navy, influenced by the Imperial Chinese Navy, also believed that the higher the speed was the advantage, so it sacrificed part of the armor protection to gain speed.

In fact, the Greek Navy did not have the money to build battleships and battlecruisers at the same time, so it used this class of battleships as battlecruisers, the best of both worlds.

It was precisely because of the Greek Navy's idea of neutralizing the battleships and battlecruisers that laid the imprint for the Chinese Empire to take the lead in proposing the concept of fast battleships.

The Salamis-class battleships with reduced armor protection, all using oil-fired boilers, had a design speed of 24.4 knots, 0.4 knots faster than the Han Wu Emperor class, and were already close to the sailing speed of early battle cruisers.

The Salamis-class battleships are significantly better than the battleships built before them in terms of firepower, speed, and defensive armor, and it is not an exaggeration to call them the strongest battleships in the world.

However, as a result, the design displacement of the Salamis class was as high as 35,000 tons, and the cost soared to 40 million yuan.

Two battleships of the Salamis class were built in the same class, the Salamis, the Salamis and the Konstantin Vasilleuskonstantinos.

However, the Greek officials were not satisfied after seeing it, and thought that the number of main guns was too small. So the engineer hurriedly drew a new pair of strange battleships overnight, and dug out the layout of three quadruple 15-inch guns on the hull of the original battleship.

The designers of the Chinese Empire had a purely whimsical idea, and since there was a triple turret, then a quadruple turret could also appear.

I didn't think that the Greek officials would be interested, but I thought that the Greek officials would be very interested.

Greek officials immediately praised the genius of the Chinese designers, which was very much in line with their meaning. So the Chinese and Greek sides began to sit down and negotiate, and finally finalized the price of 50 million dragon coins, with a total price of 100 million dragon coins.

However, Greece couldn't come up with so much money at once, so it signed a loan contract with the Chinese Empire, borrowing a total of 70 million dragon coins, to be repaid in 7 years. The down payment of another 30,000,000 dragon coins is paid directly by the Greek political axe.

Wang Chenhao was immediately surprised when he saw the battleships designed by the Imperial Navy for the Greek Navy, and said that this Greek official was a BB party. As a result, this sentence was heard by some officials of the Admiralty, and from then on a large number of people who liked the cannon of giant ships were classified as BB parties.

In this way, at the beginning of 1910, the Chinese Empire began construction of two of the most powerful battleships in the world for the Greek Navy, which immediately stimulated the European and American powers, and caused a more fierce global naval arms race in 1910.

While Europe and the United States are throwing money at their navies, the Chinese Empire is constantly building warships for other countries and constantly putting money in their pockets.

(To be continued)