Lehydon finally had time to care about his navy, and the three battleships of the "Archduke of Istria" that Lehydon donated to build were still irritated by the Reichstag, and under the impetus of Archduke Ferdinand and him, the budget for the construction of the four new battleships that the navy was supposed to pass Guò in January 1914 was brought forward to July 1913.

Lehedn's proposal to name the new battleships after the countries of the empire aroused the support of the local councils of the kingdoms of Bohemia and Croatia, which aspired to self-governing power, and although the names of these two places did not hide their desire for self-government.

The parliaments of Bohemia and Croatia even proposed that the local treasury should bear one-eighth of the shipbuilding budget, and this time the Hungarians did not object, after all, it was more than 100 million crowns, and the Magyars never had to deal with money. Thanks to the previous experience in building ships, the four "Austrian" class battleships were only slightly enlarged compared to the "Grand Duke of Istria" class, and they were all equipped with 10 380 mm 45 times the caliber main gun, which can be regarded as an improved version of the "Grand Duke of Istria" class, so in November 1913, the design of the four battleships was completed, and the construction began in October 1913.

Since the Isteria shipyard had already undertaken the construction of three battleships, the four Austrian-class battleships were built by the Royal Shipyard of Trieste, the Bora Naval Shipyard and the Fum Danube Shipyard, of which the Royal Shipyard undertook the construction of two new battleships.

According to normal history, due to the outbreak of the European war, these four battleships that had just started construction were immediately stopped, but this time was different. Since the main body of the four battleships had been completed for the most part, and because of the victory in the Battle of the Sea of Otranto, the empire still had high hopes for the navy, and thanks to the full support of Lecheldon, the construction of these battleships continued.

At present, these four battleships have been launched and outfitting works have begun, of course, it will take almost a year for them to be officially commissioned. Carlsen's Škoda Arsenal had already completed tests of the 380-mm gun and turret developed for the "Grand Duke of Istria"-class battleships, and at the Hungarian artillery test site, gun No. 1 pushed an 860-kilogram shell 46 kilometers away. Of course, it is impossible for the main guns of warships installed in the turret to reach the maximum firing angle, but even so, the range of the SK-15 380 mm naval guns can still reach 41 kilometers at a maximum elevation angle of 27 degrees, which is completely higher than the range of the main guns of warships of various countries in the same period.

During the Galician campaign, Admiral Negovan twice led a battlefleet in an attempt to break through the British and French blockade of the Strait of Otranto, but to no avail, and the strengthened Anglo-French Mediterranean Fleet now had 12 dreadnoughts.

It was impossible to fight the enemy, and of course, Lehedon would not do such a stupid thing of hitting an egg with a stone now.

The navies of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary were helplessly suppressed in their respective military ports and had nothing to do, except for the appearance of the submarine forces.

Before the war, the submarine force was not valued within the Navy, although it had the strong support of Lee Haydon, but due to its close cooperation with the Germanian shipyards, it was technically on par with the Germans. After the start of the war, the submarine force of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, with only 27 submarines, achieved the excellent record of sinking one armored cruiser, two cruisers and four destroyers of the enemy, and sinking 130,000 tons of enemy merchant ships in just a few months.

In contrast to the growing submarine doctrine of victory within the German Navy, Lee Hayton never believed that it could be decisive in the outcome of naval battles. After all, a submarine is only a destructive weapon, and it is impossible to replace surface ships to achieve superiority at sea. The seizure of sea supremacy is the main purpose of naval warfare.

A strong navy must be a balanced navy, and the outcome of a naval battle is never determined by one or two cutting-edge technologies.

Due to its geographical location, the Austro-Hungarian Navy naturally cannot be compared with most of the maritime nations of continental or island countries with long coastlines. For quite a long time, it could only be an offshore navy, and the Mediterranean, was the only place where it could function.

This is not to say that it is of little significance, on the contrary, control of the Mediterranean is crucial for the Allies, but it has less influence on Britain and France. If sea supremacy in the Mediterranean was achieved, there would be no difficulties in supplying the Allies, and it would even be possible to send fleets and marines into the Black Sea to directly threaten the Russian hinterland.

According to Lealden's plan, by the end of 1915, the Imperial Navy would have seven super-battleships armed with 380-mm guns in service. By that time, he would be able to engage in a fierce naval battle with the British and French navies in the Mediterranean. It also depended on the determination of the Germans to see if they could contain most of the main British naval force.

In addition, the so-called butterfly effect has already appeared, and the growing Austro-Hungarian navy has also stimulated Britain and France to increase their capital ship construction plans. Soon after the launch of the "Grand Duke Islaea", the British side added four "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships, and the French side also quickly started to build three "Cardinal" class battleships equipped with 381 mm guns.

Germany, on the other hand, suddenly slowed down in the construction of ships after the start of the war, and the five "Bavaria"-class battleships expected to be launched in 1914 have not yet completed their hull construction. If at the current rate, it is estimated that they will not be able to complete the construction of these five capital ships by the end of the war.

It is ridiculous that the German Empire, with an annual production of 27 million tons of steel, could not complete the construction of five battleships in four years. It's 1914, not 1941, and there aren't as many tanks and ships competing for limited armor steel production.

Lechelton felt compelled to make a trip to Germany to have a good chat with Wilhelm II and his naval colleagues of the Second Reich.

After meticulous communication with the German Navy's shipbuilding department, Li Haidon understood what the problem was.

First, the Germans did not at all expect that this war would form a protracted war of attrition, and before the war they did not think at all of the need to build up sufficient strategic reserves, although Li Hayden had reminded them, but it was of no use at all. Now the problem arises: the Second German Reich produced only 27 million tons of steel per year, but lacked rare metal raw materials to make high-quality alloy steel, and the little reserves of the Krupp steel works were almost exhausted. Now the small production of high-quality alloys has long been prioritized for the supply of the military-industrial sector for the manufacture of cannons, and there is simply no rich high-quality steel for the production of armor plates.

Secondly, after the war, a large number of skilled shipyard mechanics were drafted into the army, and now there is a shortage of skilled workers in the shipbuilding industry throughout Germany.

Oh my God, this is definitely a pig-like teammate who actually sent valuable skilled workers to the front line to be cannon fodder?

Lechelton exclaimed helplessly, and he solemnly discussed this stern question with the German Emperor and Dr. Kerber, who was in charge of munitions production and supply, and Dr. Kerber strongly agreed with him. The German Emperor also realized his mistake, and soon the General Staff of the Second Reich ordered the repatriation of 100,000 skilled workers who were serving at the front and were involved in military production, and assigned them back to the factories in the country to continue their service.

Lechelton could only squeeze out 150,000 tons of various scarce metal materials from his pre-war reserves of strategic materials and evenly distribute them to the Germans, of course, not in vain, but asked the Germans to exchange them for gold at the current market price. He didn't dare to take the mark, what if the value of this thing depreciated significantly? Not just in case, but these banknotes will definitely depreciate.

The shipbuilding work of the Second Imperial Navy has finally resumed again, and although it is not as good as it was before the war, it is much better than the previous shutdown.

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