With the signing of the ceasefire agreement between France and Germany and Austria, the three-year war in France stopped. Under the agreement, the rich northern plains of France became occupied by Germany, while the southern part of France, including Brittany, was occupied by Austria-Hungary. France was disarmed, and the Clemenceau government did not actually have the slightest diplomatic autonomy at all.

Under the armistice, the French navy was also disarmed, allowing only a dozen cruisers and destroyers to remain for the maintenance of colonial rule.

In order to win over Austria-Hungary and transfer naval power to the Atlantic, the Germans pretended to be generous in handing over the three major French naval shipyards in Brittany to the Austrians. At present, on the slipways of the shipyards of Brest, Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, the construction of the hulls of the four "Normandy" class battleships that France began to build in 1914 and the three "Cardinal-class" battleships that began construction at the end of 1915 is nearing completion, while at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard, there is also a battleship "Constantinos" built for the Greeks on the slipway, and the hull construction of this "Brittany-class" battleship was only a third of the way in progress and was stopped because of the war.

Admiral Willenic and Admiral Sorochin arrived in Toulon as the highest receiving commissioners for the German and Austrian navies. The greatest legend in the history of France, the legendary overlord of France, Napoleon, the first emperor of the French Empire, who once almost dominated Europe. The birthplace of Bonaparte, the representatives of the German and Austrian navies appeared here as victors.

By now, the fortified modern naval base had long since fallen into the hands of the Austro-Hungarians, the main French fleet had been disarmed, all the capital ships had been mothballed in the harbor, and only a few guards were left on board.

"With the exception of the 'France' and 'Paris', the best warships of the French Navy are now here. Admiral La Perel, the French Minister of the Navy, was still neat and tidy in his traditional French admiral uniform, and the face of the commander of the French fleet, who had returned to the position of Admiralty, could no longer see the pride peculiar to the French, and he glanced helplessly at the naval fleet, which he had almost built himself. In the anchorage in the harbor, the "Brittany", "Provence", "Lorraine", "Lone Pull", "Jean. The "Barr" and the four remaining battleships of the "Danton" class were quietly parked on the water, waiting for the Germans and Austrians to dispose of them, looking lifeless.

"Very well, I think your navy has made a very wise choice, we can feel the sincerity of peace expressed by France, and may our friendship continue, and there will be no return to the old era of hostility and even war!" Admiral Sorochin, full of hypocritical politeness, turned his gaze to the French fleet in the harbor, of which the Austrians were of little interest. After negotiations, the fleet was to be taken over by the Germans to strengthen the German Mediterranean Fleet, and as compensation, the Germans were to pay a considerable part of the costs for the Austro-Hungarian Navy to rebuild the submarine construction facilities at the French shipyards and to continue the construction of battleships of the "Cardinal" and "Normandy" classes.

In the following period, the French Navy handed over almost all of their capital ships in accordance with the armistice, the Austrians received only 4 armored cruisers, and the rest were handed over to the Germans. The French and Italian navies, which were comparable in strength to the Austro-Hungarian navy before the war, are a thing of the past, and at present in the Mediterranean, perhaps only the German fleet has some ability to compete with the Austro-Hungarian navy, and the British, although they have strengthened the Gibraltar fleet, have also almost abandoned the entire Mediterranean.

Admiral Villenik was ordered to form the Austro-Hungarian Atlantic Fleet, and after completing the handover of the French fleet, he rushed to Saint-Nazaire.

The Admiralty organized the ship design and construction department to evaluate the eight capital ships being built by the French shipyards, and the three "Cardinal" class battleships built by the French according to the drawings provided by the British were of excellent performance, and their overall combat performance was not inferior to the current "Istrian Grand Duke" class battleships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, but the power system of the "Brittany" class battleships built for the Greeks had great shortcomings, and in addition, the three quadruple 340 mm main gun turrets of the "Normandy" class battleships were also a problem, the Austro-Hungarian Navy did not have experience in creating quadruple turrets, and their reliability was not guaranteed.

Eventually, the naval design department built a turret that abandoned the "Constantinos", and the quadruple main turret of the "Normandy" class was also built with a triple main turret.

As the Austro-Hungarian Navy was preparing to increase the number of capital ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, a large number of skilled shipbuilders from the four major Austro-Hungarian shipyards were transferred to the French shipyards, and new renovation plans were quickly approved, and the construction of these French ships was resumed and the progress was greatly accelerated.

In order to unify the caliber of the main guns, the caliber of the main guns of the "Konstantinos" and the four battleships of the "Normandy" class was adjusted to the same 330-mm guns as the "Radetzky" class, and in order to increase the speed, the hull length was slightly increased.

With the maturity and application of new construction technology, the welding process has begun to be widely used in the construction of the hull, due to the use of a large number of welding processes, the new ship not only greatly accelerates the construction speed, but also enhances the structural strength, reduces the weight of the structure accordingly, and the defense capability of the warship has also been improved accordingly.

The war on land is nearing its end, and now another arms race at sea has begun.

After the United States entered the war, it immediately began the construction of six additional "Tennessee" class battleships, and after the Battle of Jutland, Britain also began to build four "H" class battleships equipped with 16-inch guns, plus six battle cruisers under construction, in view of the insufficient damage of 15-inch guns. After the "Bavaria" class battleships were put into service, the Germans started construction of five "Mackensen" class battlecruisers and four "York-class" battleships at the same time, while the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which was originally trying to catch up with Germany, suddenly stopped, and in addition to continuing to build eight "semi-finished" capital ships in France, domestic shipyards stopped the construction of capital ships.

His Majesty Emperor Friedrich assured the Navy that the current war would be ended before the new American battleships were commissioned, and only then did he persuade the Navy to abandon the new shipbuilding program.

As the British and Americans established an increasingly tight escort system, the German submarine force, which had performed well in the early stages of the war, began to show its weaknesses, and not only did its achievements decline, but the number of submarines lost increased month by month.

The popular argument that the submarine forces alone could cut off the British's sea transportation lines was finally rarely mentioned by the navy again, and everyone finally soberly realized that without the support of the surface forces, the submarine forces would not be able to control the sea after all.

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