"Although the Germans had the same number of guns as the Dreadnought, their caliber was only 11 inches, which was much less powerful than ours. Did you just say that it was equipped with a reciprocating steam engine? Well, then its fastest speed is about 19 knots, which is much slower than the dreadnought with a steam turbine. From this point of view, the German battleship was nothing more than a shoddy and inferior product, and was still overwhelmed by the British Empire's warships in terms of firepower and speed, which were the two key characteristics that determined victory or defeat at sea. ”

Fisher's eyes flickered, and various expressions alternated on his face, and finally regained his previous confident demeanor. The corners of his mouth curled, and he said: "That German 'First Sea Lord', who is seven years younger than me, yes, God, I must admit that he has an extremely keen insight into the development of the navy. I originally thought that the appearance of the Intrepid would bring a tsunami-like subversive impact to the World Navy, but I did not expect that the Germans would quietly have a cutting-edge capital ship that could compete with it. It seems that it is necessary for us to build a little more of this new type of warship in order to maintain our superiority in this completely new field. ”

Dury pursed his lips slightly, and said in a somewhat helpless tone, "John, you really should take the necessary action." Because the Germans are building more than this type of ship, in the past three years, they have started construction of 4 ships of the same class. Although this kind of battleship, which they named the 'Deutschland' class, was not as good as our Dreadnought, it had an overwhelming advantage over the other capital ships of the Royal Navy, and in addition to the Lord Nelson, which had just been in operation for less than a year, was able to resist a little, and the 50 battleships, including the seven newly commissioned Edward VII classes, were no match for them at all, and could only cope with them by virtue of numerical superiority. If that's the case. Our naval forces in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Far East would be drastically reduced. This was definitely not a good strategy for glorious Britain. ”

Fisher's smiling expression suddenly froze on his face. A moment later. He suddenly shouted like a powder keg exploding: "What, you said that the Germans currently have 4 ships of this class under construction?" ”

"In September 1903, the keels of the lead ship Deutschland and the second ship Hanover were laid at the Wilhelm shipyard and the Volken shipyard respectively; In July 1904, construction of the Silesian shipyard began, and it was the battleship that was launched. In addition to this, there is an unnamed ship No. 4, which began construction at the Kiel shipyard half a year ago, and half of the hull work has been completed. Durry's face was solemn, and his words were full of heaviness. Therefore, the current Silesian ship launched is only the third ship, and the two more in front of it have already been launched and will be fully completed by the end of this year. ”

Fisher froze where he was, as if it was taking him a lot of time and effort to understand the meaning of this sudden news. After a while, his blue eyes revealed an undisguised fierce and murderous intent, and he said word by word: "For such an important matter, why didn't the military department receive any news before?" ”

Dury said in a deep voice: "The previous construction of this batch of German battleships, including the launching of the first two warships, was carried out under strict secrecy, so we did not detect the relevant information of this class of warships at all. If it weren't for the Germans themselves this time to dismantle the sheds that had been erected around the slipway. If the launching ceremony is held in a high-profile manner and the information about them is announced. We also have no way of knowing that they have quietly built so many battleships with full heavy guns. As the object of warship order favored by both Russia and Japan, the Germans are indeed highly accomplished in the field of shipbuilding concepts. ”

Fisher's face turned blue and white, and a strong feeling of embarrassment and hatred came over his heart. Prior to this, he had great confidence in the Intrepid that he had led the construction of, not only because of its great combat effectiveness, but also because the ship was the embodiment of Fisher's own talent and ability. If the Dreadnought is unique, then it is a testament to his insightful knowledge of the combat forms of the world's navies, which is something that the impulsive, resolute and fiery Fisher himself has always taken for granted. But this time, the Germans started construction of battleships with the same all-heavy guns two years earlier, and they built 4 of them, and their vision for the future and their heroic courage were all several times stronger than his Fisher!

Fisher's heart was extremely uncomfortable when he thought that as the head of the most powerful Royal Navy in the world, he was not as good as the founder of the bathtub fleet that was only ranked fourth in the world and was vastly different from the United Kingdom. And after these thoughts slowly subsided with the passage of time, Fisher also had a trace of doubt in his heart.

A month after the launch of the British Intrepid, Germany also held a high-profile launching ceremony for the Silesia in the country. If this was their first all-heavy artillery ship, the Germans would have done so, as it would have shown the world that their shipbuilding philosophy was not inferior to that of the British, and that they were at the forefront of their time. However, before that, two other ships of the same class had also been launched, which is really an incomprehensible anomaly. The purpose of the Germans in doing this could not be simply to show off and fame, otherwise they would not have to wait until now, but could have held a grand launching ceremony for the lead ship Deutschland more than half a year ago. The influence of the first person to taste tomatoes in the world will undoubtedly be much stronger than that of the second person who followed the United Kingdom. It is also impossible that the Germans will not be able to boast of their presence because they have little confidence in the all-heavy artillery battleships, and they will not follow up after the British have gone through the minefield first, and if they do not have confidence, they will not start construction of four new battleships in one go, and this number of construction is the best manifestation of Tirpitz's confidence.

Since Tirpitz chose to keep a low profile more than half a year ago, and achieved great success in hiding from the public, it is even more important to let the previous efforts go to waste! The Germans showed not only the Silesia, but also the Deutschland and Hanover, which are hidden in the snow and are about to be completed, as well as the ship No. 4, which can no longer be called a show-off, but more like a demonstration!

At this thought, Fisher's mind flashed with lightning, and a thought that shocked him suddenly: Did the Germans learn of the top-secret military cooperation agreement just signed between Britain and France, so they responded with the toughest posture of showing their muscles in the most crucial naval field of the British Empire?

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The sun was warm, the clock was chimeling, and the tinkling of a tram passing through the street dragged Fisher's divergent thoughts back. He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was already a cold coldness in his blue eyes.

"Although I have no conclusive evidence, I can almost conclude that the Germans must have known what we had done last month, and in this way showed us how powerful they were. It is truly hateful that a barbarian tribe who drank blood in the forests of Central Europe should also want to get their hands on the sea power of the Royal Navy and interfere in the foreign and internal affairs of Britain. Fisher snorted, his face full of disdain for the Central European Empire, and said coldly, "The destruction of the Russian fleet has made the Germans, who controlled the entire Baltic Sea, begin to become self-confident, and dare to roll up their sleeves in front of the British Empire." With that bathtub fleet of the Germans, the Royal Navy could completely annihilate it as Copenhagen did with a single flip of hands! ”

"John, what are you going to do with these Germans?" Durry's eyes flashed with excitement, and he asked.

Fisher said lightly: "It's very simple, the Germans show us their naval strength, then we will also respond." The huge gap between London and Berlin in the ocean is by no means something that they can make up for in a short run! Charles, our modified design of the Intrepid should have appeared too, right? ”

Dury nodded slightly, took out a huge scroll of drawings from his briefcase and hung it on the wall, and then smiled: "My other purpose for looking for you today is to show this new design of the Royal Navy based on the Intrepid. The battleship, named after the handsome and heroic deity Bellerophon, was a simple version of the Dreadnought, with the main mast of sight and sight fire moved to Chimney No. 1 to ensure that it was not disturbed by smoke exhaust; The freeboard and bridge have also been raised in height, which not only improves her seafaring ability, but also makes her more powerful and magnificent than the Dreadnought. She was armed with the same five twin 45-inch-12 (305 mm) main guns as the Dreadnought, arranged in the same way, but reinforced to 16 4-inch (102 mm) secondary guns to combat the ever-increasing tonnage of mine-striking ships. It has a standard displacement of 18,800 tons, a design speed of 20.75 knots, and a maximum thickness of 10 inches (254 mm) in its main armor and 8 inches (203 mm) in its upper armor, as in the Dreadnought. ”

Seeing the delicate double view on the drawing, Fisher finally showed a smile in his eyes. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good, it's her." Tomorrow...... No, just after lunch today, I will go to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer and ask them to agree on the budget for the construction of six more Bellerophon-class battleships. ”

Du Rui was stunned and said, "6 battleships!" But John, we still have 3 Invincible-class Perfect Cruisers to build this year, and they're all gold-swallowing behemoths that cost over £1.7 million! Will those two Liberal gentlemen, who are always eyeing the military spending of the Navy, agree to your plan? ”

Fisher said lightly: "I will let them agree." (To be continued......)