In December 1903, the Wright brothers of the United States piloted a homemade improvised flying machine for the first successful flight test in human history, and although it was only a little more than a minute, they succeeded after all. It was widely reported in the press, and it caused a stir in the United States and Europe, but not enough attention was paid to it.

Unlike the cold reception that the Wright brothers received in the United States, the initial reaction of Europeans to this news was incredulous, but some people began to try it out with curiosity.

Of course, Helden did not have the time or energy to build an airplane by himself, and it was impossible for him to risk his life, flying was still a very dangerous thing in this era, and he would fall from the sky if he was not careful. But he cared enough about it, and in 1905 the Imperial Aero Club was founded in Vienna, with Lee Hayton as its main patron. The Aero Club in Vienna offers attractive prizes to European flying enthusiasts, and if they can fly high enough and stay in the sky long enough, they can get a good sum of money, and they can get enough money to get enough money to get most mechanics on the move, with a prize of 500,000 kroner enough to make most mechanics want to go.

The Wright brothers received an invitation from Vienna, and their flight tests in the United States were met with criticism and the respect they deserved. In 1905, the Wright brothers succeeded in building an airplane capable of flying for thirty minutes and prepared to give it to the US Army, but the authorities ruthlessly rejected it.

In desperation, the two had no choice but to leave for Hamburg, and from there to Vienna.

Vienna is now a paradise for European aviation enthusiasts, and with the support of the Aviation Club, many genius ideas have become reality – all kinds of biplane and monoplane aircraft have been presented to the people, and they can quickly refine their ideas through exchanges and cooperation.

Engines became the hottest research direction, and people quickly realized that power was the biggest bottleneck restricting their breakthroughs. Engines of all sorts of combinations were built – in-line, V-shaped, star-shaped, and of course more failed products.

In 1906, Hirton finally decided to establish his own aircraft factory, the Ischel Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which was built in the town of Leigh, not because of its proximity to Linz, where the metallurgical industry was developed, but because there was enough timber here, and it was a timber distribution center in the Austrian Alps.

Now, the main materials for the manufacture of aircraft are wood and canvas, and not light alloys.

Many members of the flying club were recruited into the aircraft factory, where they received more funding, including talented aircraft designers such as Etrich, Blério and the Wright brothers.

The launch of British-built dreadnoughts in 1906 caused a sensation around the world, and overnight, all the capital ships built at great expense by the navies of various countries became obsolete. Previously, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had built an Emperor-class warship two months ahead of the Dreadnought, had not caused the sensation that Helton had hoped, and the weak naval strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had not attracted enough attention.

In fact, the "Emperor Maximilian" was the first battleship in the world to be built with the concept of "all-heavy main gun", but most countries considered it to be just an armored cruiser. Perhaps the Americans' "South Carolina" was the world's first real "dreadnought", and it completed the design of an all-heavy battleship with main guns even earlier than the Austrian battleship, and the gun layout was more reasonable than that of the "Dreadnought", but the US Congress succeeded in delaying its construction.

In any case, great honor still belongs to the British, even if the design and main gun arrangement of the "Dreadnought" is not at all comparable to the "Emperor" class of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the "South Carolina" class of the United States, but this does not prevent it from gaining great fame. The British Empire's powerful navy and, of course, their ubiquitous propaganda capabilities contributed to the reputation of the Dreadnought.

The appearance of the "dreadnought" was the inevitable result of the development of naval technology, and the results of the naval battles between Japan and Russia only strengthened its direction. In fact, before the Russo-Japanese War, all the naval powers had already begun to prepare this design, but the British were more determined and fast, and their strong shipbuilding capabilities also ensured that they could build a new capital battleship in only one year.

The navies of the whole world stopped the construction of new battleships, and their eyes were focused on the "Dreadnought", waiting for its test results.

However, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was not among them, and while the "Emperor Maximilian" and "Emperor Karl" were undergoing sea trials, a new battleship had already begun laying keels at the Islaia shipyard in Trieste. Archduke Ferdinand, who loved the navy, was not very satisfied with the performance of the "Emperor" class, although it was the best armored cruiser in the world, with a high speed of 25 knots and eight 240mm guns, which allowed it to stand tall even when encountering those old battleships.

But its 240-mm guns were not enough to pose a threat to a battleship like the Dreadnought, and His Royal Highness needed a real battleship, a battleship armed with 12-inch guns.

The budget for a new battleship was quickly approved, and the Magyars did not dwell too much on it this time, and the construction of the "Emperor Friedrich" had just begun at the Danube shipyard, which had just been renovated, although the parliament made it clear that the other three shipyards would be responsible for the construction of the subsequent improved battleship of the battleship "Radetzky".

The Radetzky was the first "real" battleship built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, at least with its main guns, and the 305 mm/L45 Skoda gun had a range of 25 km at maximum elevation, which was the best in the world. The Krupp guns of the same caliber of their time had a range of 1.5 km less, while the British 305 mm Armstrong guns were even worse, barely reaching a range of just over 21 km.

General Popel's plan to equip the new battleship with four triple guns was not a problem, and the Škoda plant had already succeeded in developing a triple main gun turret for its Russian guests. He was also hampered by the budget, which calculated that equipping four 305-mm triple main turrets would require at least 23,000 to 25,000 tons of displacement, while the parliament only approved a budget for the construction of a battleship of 18,000 to 20,000 tons.

In desperation, Poppel had no choice but to change the main turret to a triple-twin layout, with the taller rear main turret using a double-link, which avoided the additional displacement caused by the upward shift of the center of gravity. The 305 mm guns were not enough to deal with the dreadnoughts that followed, and the super-dreadnoughts armed with 356 mm or 381 mm guns, and Helton strongly advocated the use of a slender cruiser shape instead of a wide battleship shape, which would allow for higher speeds.

Of course, due to the lengthened hull, its protection was also somewhat weaker than that of ordinary battleships, and indeed, "Radetzky" could only be a battlecruiser in his mind.

With such a streamlined design, it still exceeds the standard, and the displacement is expected to exceed 21,000 tons, and the parliament has made it clear that it will not add a penny to the budget. For the sake of its completion, Li Haidon could only grit his teeth and cut off the profits due to the shipyard, almost in vain, and he might lose money.

With the completion of sea trials of the British dreadnoughts, the navies of various countries are ready to start building their own dreadnoughts to use to obsolete the outdated old battleships.

The naval race of the "dreadnought" era slowly began.

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