The naval arms race in East Asia and East Africa has been unfolding for more than three years, and the competition between China and Russia in Northeast Asia has become increasingly fierce.

Under Wang Chenhao's efforts, the Chinese Navy has built the world's fifth-strongest navy, second only to the Tsarist Russian Imperial Navy, and in Northeast Asia, its strength has surpassed the Tsarist Far East Fleet and the Combined Fleet, becoming the strongest navy in the Asia-Pacific region.

With the successive completion of the Chinese Navy's Hunter-class and Haiqi-class armored cruisers, the 66th Fleet plan built by Wang Chenhao has been completed.

The original plan of the 66th Fleet was to build six heavy armored cruisers, six light armored cruisers, and six auxiliary hunting fleets, but as the arms race in Northeast Asia continued to expand, the original 66th Fleet plan became somewhat outdated.

As early as 1897, when the Qing Empire implemented financial reforms, Wang Chenhao had to rely on the power of the two largest economies, the United States and the United Kingdom, the two largest economies in the world, to eliminate the financial blackmail of international financial predators led by the Rothschilds. In return, Wang Chenhao ordered four Dengyun-class battleships and 12 Westlake-class large supply ships from Britain and the United States.

In this way, the number of battleships of the Chinese Navy in the second quarter of 1899 would be increased to six, and the 66th fleet was invisibly expanded.

This increase does not matter, the Tsarist Russian Navy and the Japanese Navy, which have been stimulated by the expansion of the Chinese Navy, have also actively planned a countermeasure.

The Tsarist Empire had always been obsessed with the outcome of the Qing-Russian War, and the face-saving Nicholas II vowed revenge, so under his leadership, the Tsarist government had just stabilized the domestic economy, and its finances began to tilt towards the direction of military power in the Far East.

Originally, the Russian political axe targeted the two Dengyun-class battleships of the Chinese Navy, and sent five battleships to the Tsarist Russian Navy in the Far East: Sioiveliki, Rytasrov, Peresvet, Victory, and Osliabia. The number of battleships of the Tsarist Far East Fleet has increased to five, which seems to be enough to deal with the two battleships of the Chinese Navy, but what is the actual combat power, the Russians themselves know in their hearts that the five battleships are inferior to the Dengyun-class battleships of the Chinese Navy in terms of firepower, armor and speed. Although the Peresvet-class battleships reached a speed of 19 knots, they were obtained at the expense of armor and firepower, and the three Peresvet-class battleships equipped with 254 mm guns could only play the role of second-class battleships at best, and were not at all opponents of the Dengyun-class battleships in the capital ship duel.

The Tsarist Far East Fleet was equipped with five battleships, but only two battleships of the Chinese Navy were suppressed by numbers, and now the Chinese Navy has ordered four additional battleships, and this balance was suddenly broken, and the Tsarist Russian Navy had to take measures to deal with it.

The reason why the warships of the Tsarist Russian Navy always lagged behind the mainstream warships of the world was also improved by the fact that the Tsarist political axe sought lessons from the United States and France.

In order to encircle Tsarist Russia to deal with the German-Italian-Austrian Triple Alliance, France's most advanced Toulon shipbuilding used France's highest shipbuilding technology to build the Crown Prince battleship for the Tsarist Russian Navy. Although the U.S. political axe agreed to build the battleship Retvizan for Russia, it was forced by the pressure of China and the British political axe to retain some key technologies when selling design drawings and technology. Despite this, the technology obtained by Russia was also more advanced than that of China, so it chose to agree.

In order to realize the established strategic policy, Russia decided to start copying these two battleships in China half a year after the start of construction of the "Retvizan" and "Prince", and to revise them at any time according to the advantages and disadvantages of these two battleships, and then refer to their designs to start construction at the same time in the country to start construction of five new warships that integrate their advanced technology and technology. Finally, summarize the advantages and lessons of the above-mentioned battleships to build the strongest super battleship.

Half a year after the start of construction, the Russian Navy believed that the Americans' steady, comprehensive, balanced and mature technology path did not seem to be very suitable for the appetite of the anxious Russians, and the "Kniazpotyomkintavritcheskiyclass" (Kniazpotyomkintavritcheskiyclass), which imitated the design of the "Trevizan", was originally planned to build three, but six months after the start of construction, the other two ships were canceled, and only one was built, that is, the Potemkin.

On the other hand, the French-designed "Prince", although it was discovered that there were problems in the early stages of construction, still won the favor of the Russians for its powerful firepower and excellent protective ability. The French made sweeping improvements to the design flaws of the battleship "Prince" during the construction of the battleship "Prince" for the Russian Navy, and then built the more powerful "Suffren" for the French Navy. The construction of the Prince had already begun, and it was impossible to make major changes, so the Russians asked the French political axe for the design drawings of the battleship "Sofin" and a large amount of technical information, and then improved the Borodino-class battleships that would be built later in Russia.

It can be said that the "Borodino class" is the Russian version of the "Sofin", and its design is also inherited from the battleship "Prince". The Russians decided to transfer the budget for the two canceled Potemkin-class battleships to the construction of Borodino-class battleships, after integrating the strengths of the "Prince" and correcting its shortcomings. As a result, the number of Borodino-class battleships started construction reached 5 units.

The Borodino-class battleships were originally designed to deal with the Chinese Navy's Dengyun-class battleships, but to the Russian Admiralty's tragedy, the Russian Navy could only maintain 14,000-ton warships in the docks at the Vladivostok and Ulsan naval bases in the Far East, while Russia had no colonies overseas, and it was impossible to let the Borodino-class battleships sail 18,000 miles back to St. Petersburg for repairs and another 18,000 miles back to the Far East. The Russian Navy requested the Ministry of Finance to allocate funds for the expansion of a 20,000-ton shipyard in the Far East, but the Ministry of Finance, headed by Witte, refused to approve it. In desperation, the Russian Admiralty had no choice but to limit the tonnage of the Borodino-class battleships to 14,000 tons, and the final displacement was determined to be around 13,500 tons.

The Borodino-class battleships were designed to be 2,500 tons less than the Dengyun-class battleships from the very beginning, which was bound to affect the weight standards of its three key items: artillery, armor, and power plant, and the battleship had already lost on the drawings before it was built.

In terms of speed, the Borodino-class battleships exceeded the 17 knots of the first two Dengyun-class battleships, and the 18 knots of the next four Dengyun-class battleships. The Russian Navy had no overseas colonies, so the Borodino-class battleships had to increase their endurance in order to adapt to the requirements of ocean-going operations. It is designed to carry 2,000 tons of coal, so it has a range of up to 8,500 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. Such a huge voyage has never been seen in the previous Russian self-built warships. From this alone, we can see the great ambition of the Russian Empire for the open sea.

In terms of firepower, the main guns of the "Borodino-class" battleships used the strongest naval guns of the Russian Navy at that time, the 12-inch 40-diameter Model 1895. When fired at a maximum elevation angle of 15 degrees, the main gun could reach a maximum range of about 14,000 meters, compared to the previous model 1877 main gun used by the old battleships, which had a range of less than 10,000 meters. The secondary gun is modeled after the Dengyun-class battleship and is a twin 152 mm rapid-fire gun.

The first- and second-level artillery is not weaker than the Dengyun class, but the third-level artillery is much weaker. The Borodino class was armed with 12 75 mm small-caliber rapid-fire guns, while the Dengyun-class battleships were equipped with 16 88 mm rapid-fire guns, eight 47 mm rapid-fire guns, and four 37 rapid-fire guns. The three-stage guns of the Borodino class are installed in the form of gun outlines at the waterline on the left and right sides, and the original design of this is to make them more effective against incoming enemy ships, and the muzzles of the guns can shoot at the hull of enemy ships that are basically at the same level without shaking, but the worst thing is that if they encounter a large wave, the third class guns cannot fire at all. At this point, the Dengyun-class battleships' three-stage rapid-fire guns all had twin turrets, which could still fire effectively even in rough sea conditions. Such a gap can only be detected in real combat, so the Russian Admiralty did not take this into account.

In terms of the thickness of its armor, it can be said that the Borodino class is unprecedented among Russian warships - not because of how thick it is, but because its armor is scary-thin by traditional standards! The broadside armor belt between the two main turrets is only 7.5 inches (190 mm) thick, the bow and stern armor belts are 100 inches (254 mm armor), and the ship's most heavily armored main turret and conning tower are only 10 inches (254 mm armor). With this level of armor protection, it would be quite dangerous to hit a 305-mm shell against a Dengyun-class battleship.

Some people in the Russian Admiralty once questioned it, but the officials of the shipbuilding department claimed that the ship used the most advanced French "nickel steel" and "dimensional heat treatment method" two innovative technologies, so the armor installed on the "Borodino class" was not inferior to any other advanced warship in the world at that time. The Russians deceived themselves, but did they not know that new technology was adopted for your battleship? The Chinese Navy's Dengyun-class battleships are equipped with Krupp reinforced armor and are up to 12.2 inches (310 mm) thick, which is destined to make the Borodino-class battleships only suffer from the ravages of Dengyun-class battleships.

In addition to speed, firepower and armor, the only thing that the Borrodino class can boast of is that it was designed with a complete radio system, which also solves the problem of liaison between the fleet and the command structure. Because the patent right of the radio system is controlled by China's Beiyang Science and Technology Heavy Industry, the Russians can be said to have begged their grandfather to sue their grandmother in order to obtain the radio system, and only under the mediation of the United States and France political axes did they obtain the authorization to use the Beiyang Science and Technology Heavy Industry, for which the Beiyang Science and Technology Heavy Industry extorted 500,000 US dollars from the Russian Admiralty for technology transfer fees.

It can be said that starting from the "Borodino class", the first class battleships of the Russian Empire were built domestically for the first time, and truly had world-class warships.

As another enemy of China, the Chinese Navy also caught up with the Chinese Navy after ordering four additional Dengyun-class battleships and ordered four Shikishima-class battleships from British shipyards.

The Shikishima class is also designed for the Chinese Navy's Dengyun-class battleships, and because the local naval shipbuilding industry can only build warships of about 4,000 tons for the time being, and cannot build large-tonnage warships of more than 10,000 tons, the Navy can only be built in the United Kingdom.

Obviously, Britain's shipbuilding technology is very strong, and the Shikishima-class battleships built for Yumoto are about the same as the Dengyun class as a whole, and several times stronger than the Borodino class built by Russia itself.

The normal displacement of the Shikishima class reached 15,453 tons, which is close to the Dengyun class. Its maximum speed is 18 knots, which is the same as the next four ships of the Dengyun class. The Shikishima class is equipped with two twin 305 mm main guns, 14 152 mm single secondary guns, 20 76 mm single guns, and 12 47 mm single guns, but the number of its guns is slightly stronger than that of the Dengyun class, but its guns are all single-mounted silhouette guns, with a limited firing range, and one-third of the guns are arranged near the waterline, which cannot be fired in strong winds and waves. The second, third and fourth level guns of the Dengyun class are all twin-mounted turret rapid-fire guns, which have a wide firing range and can still fire effectively in bad sea conditions.

In terms of armor, due to the number of guns installed in the Shikishima class, the tonnage is not as good as that of the Dengyun class, so the armor is slightly inferior. The 280 mm armor belt only covers 85% of the critical areas, while the Dengyun 310 mm armor belt covers the critical areas completely.

The four Shikishima-class battleships added by the Navy's Navy, almost at the same time as the four Dengyun-class battleships of the Chinese Navy, were laid with keels, and the completion time was about the same. At this time, the Chinese navy in the Far East was superior to the Russian navy and the Chinese navy, and according to the military tactics of helping the weak and resisting the strong, the British navy naturally hoped that the weakest navy could also contain the Chinese navy.

Of course, the British political axe knew the priorities, the Qing Empire and Russia still had to fight a big war, Britain out of the strategic interests of uniting China against Russia, it was impossible to provoke China too much, so it also built warships for China and the two countries, and Britain still favored the Chinese side. However, if Russia were weakened after the Sino-Russian War, Britain's attitude would have been uncertain.

The naval arms race in Asia and Eastern Europe was initiated by Wang Chenhao, and the original intention was to maintain sea power and prevent Western powers from invading China from the sea. However, with the deepening of the contradictions between China and Russia, this naval arms race has another purpose, that is, to drag down the economy of Russia and Russia, so that they will invest all their limited funds in the navy, and thus there will be a serious shortage of funds for their domestic development. As the world's second largest economy, China's national wealth is not much less than that of the United States, but it is more than that of the two countries combined, so China can afford an arms race of this magnitude; on the other hand, both China and Russia have suffered a heavy blow from the international silver crisis, and if China engages in a large-scale naval arms race with anyone for a long time, its economy will certainly be dragged down.

Based on this strategic consideration, Wang Chenhao once again expanded the arms race after learning that Ben and Russia were closely following the pace of the expansion of the Chinese Navy.

Deng Shichang, Liu Buyun, Lin Taizeng, and other high-ranking naval officials proposed at the naval meeting a plan for expanding the navy, that is, on the basis of the 66 Fleet case, an additional 33 Fleet case was added, and this was the 99 Fleet Navy's case.

The reason why Deng Shichang and other high-ranking naval officials put forward the naval expansion plan is because China has undergone earth-shaking changes, and when they were in the Beiyang Naval Division, the Qing Zheng Axe of [***] made it difficult for the expansion of the Beiyang Naval Division, and not only did not increase the appropriation, but embezzled naval funds. This caused extremely bad psychological dissatisfaction in the hearts of Deng Shichang and others, and they dared not speak out in anger, until now the Beiyang system headed by Wang Chenhao has become the de facto master of China, and the Beiyang political axe has replaced the Qing political axe to exercise China's state power, and Deng Shichang's long-pent-up ambition for naval hegemony and expansion in their hearts suddenly burst out.

Of course, the most important point is that the Beiyang political axe under Wang Chenhao's rule is rich, and the Admiralty can justifiably ask the cabinet and Congress for money under the pretext that the Russian Far East Navy and the combined fleet pose a threat to China. The successful operation of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base has solved the necessary equipment, technology and raw materials for the development of the naval industry. With the completion of the construction of Haiqi-class warships in China, a large number of professional designers, engineers, and mechanics who had studied in the major British naval industrial factories returned to China one after another, bringing British advanced technology to the domestic naval industry. Among them, the shipbuilding engineers and technicians who have been following the construction of Dengyun-class battleships and hunter-class heavy armored cruisers have returned to China, so that the Chinese Navy itself can build large warships of more than 16,000 levels. The Daji large test ship, which is under construction by Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., has directly accumulated valuable large warship construction technology for the Chinese Navy.

All this ultimately gave the Admiralty officers the confidence to realize their plans to build their own first-class battleships on their own soil.

The Admiralty's Supplementary Act for the Navy's Third Third Fleet included the construction of three first-class battleships, three heavy armored cruisers, three armored cruisers, and three eighteen high-speed destroyers, as well as a number of auxiliary vessels. The Navy Expansion Act was funded at a budget of 7 million dragon coins and was scheduled to be completed by 1901.

Deng Shichang directly sent the proposal for the expansion of the 33rd Fleet to the cabinet and submitted it to Wang Chenhao for approval. Wang Chenhao was supportive of the naval expansion bill, but considering the work process of the political axe, he asked Deng Shichang to submit the bill to the National Assembly for review, then to the cabinet, and finally Wang Chenhao, the prime minister, to approve it.

In Wang Chenhao's words, all the laws, politics, systems and other rules and regulations of this country and this political axe were established by Wang Chenhao, although the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Congress, and the Cabinet are all controlled by Wang Chenhao's Beiyang lineage, Wang Chenhao is actually a talented reader, and no one will object to Wang Chenhao's words, but Wang Chenhao needs to retain a fair and selfless good image in front of the people, so the necessary situation still has to go.

In October 1898, the Imperial Congress passed the "Navy 33 Fleet Supplement Bill" submitted by the Admiralty, and three days later, after the Imperial Cabinet had no objection to the bill, it was officially approved by Wang Chenhao after signing and sealing, and then the Imperial Ministry of Finance allocated an additional military budget of 7 million dragon dollars to the Admiralty, and the 33 Fleet Supplement Plan was officially launched.

(To be continued)