When the tide of building dreadnoughts blew in the naval circles of the world, the Russian Navy finally could not sit still. At this moment, the all-heavy artillery faction had the upper hand in the Admiralty, and all the issues that had been debated before now seemed to have come to fruition. The Russians are a people who are very good at learning from war. In the case that their creativity is not enough, they will still choose to follow the crowd and develop themselves by following the pace of the strong.

And more importantly, the Russian Navy all-heavy artillery finally got the coveted drawings. On the other side of the ocean, the US Navy began construction of the USS South Carolina, a first-class dreadnought. At this time, the total amount of American industry was there, but there was still a certain gap between the industrial quality and the European powers, jumping directly from more than 10,000 points to nearly 20,000 tons, and a huge part of it was its own production of accessories.

Although it has all the fashionable elements of the Xu dreadnought, the all-heavy gun layout, the piggyback layout, and the central axis layout. However, in terms of fire control and hull design, it still continues the standards of the previous dreadnought. So the Americans also have the purpose of experimenting with this class of warships, anyway, the United States has built two, even if the effect is not good, at most it will lose less than 2.8 million pounds, and the US imperialists said that they can still afford this tuition!

At this time, the Russians' demand for orders overjoyed the Americans. Just like when Lao Li bought Dingzhen, the Qing Dynasty paid the Germans for the first ironclad ship built by the Germans. There is no risk at all, and experience has been accumulated. Why not? But compared to the Russians in 1878, the Americans were a little more slippery.

Savvy Americans said. In addition to experimenting yourself, you also have to make some money, after all, no one has to live with money. Two 16,000-ton former dreadnoughts were priced at £3.3 million. And that's not including insurance and return fees, which is a whopping £1,650,000 each, which was £1,650,000 in 1900. And the first payment is up to 40%! Absolutely no counteroffer!

Although the Russians were angry, they also expressed their helplessness at the Americans' extortion. After all, the British, Germans, and Italians would not sell warships to Russia, and although the French could provide such warships as allies, the French have always been known for their high prices. In addition, the all-heavy gun version of the Danton-class battleships of the French had only 7 guns on the side chord, while the weight was greater than that of the American battleships. This makes the already high cost even more outrageous!

As a result, the Russian naval heavy artillery faction, which had theoretically won a complete victory, was defeated in the face of money. Although the dreadnought is good, the funding gap is too large. It's not that the Russians can't afford to build 4 or 5 dreadnoughts. Rather, it is said that the Russians pay great attention to numerical superiority, and although the dreadnought capital ships are good, the Russians who are shy in their pockets really can't afford it. For this reason, the Russian Navy had to hold a special meeting to discuss the first phase of the naval expansion program.

March 7, 1900. Russian Admiralty. Under the auspices of Admiral Havelan, Minister of the Admiralty. The first session of the 1900 annual meeting of the Russian Navy on naval expansion officially began. And at the very beginning, the admirals were fighting over the capital ship procurement plan!

Rear Admiral Essen, who had participated in the Sino-Russian naval battle, strongly demanded that the Russian Navy closely follow the design of the Beiyang Fleet and adopt all-heavy artillery fighters. "I buy from the French or from the Americans. I hope that at the beginning of the next war, the Imperial fleet under the banner of St. Andrew will be able to come up with ships that are in no way inferior to those of the North Seas. Essen paused and continued.

"We are already not inferior to the North Ocean in terms of armored cruiser collar ships, whether it is Rurik or Russia, and in the case of equal number of engagements, we do not suffer in terms of performance. But the battleship, which was the capital ship, had a considerable gap with the other side. In the naval battle off the coast of Mutsu, the fact that our battlefleet was heavily damaged by the opponent's main fleet with the superiority of auxiliary warships is enough to illustrate this problem. If you can't defeat your opponent in a decisive battle. We simply cannot defeat the Huaxia Navy. As a front-line commander, Essen said bitterly.

"General Essen, then. What kind of fleet do you want to have? All dreadnought fleets? Let's say the South Carolina-type battleships of the Americans? Rozdvinsky said calmly. Well, then, tell me, how many such warships does the Russian Navy need to equip in your calculations? ”

"At least not less than 6 ships, the Chinese fleet in Germany and Italy at the same time started construction of 4 battleships, and two of them are equipped with 12 12-inch 45L guns super dreadnoughts. Considering the difference in the quality of the sailors of the two sides, only when the Russian Navy has 6 capital ships of the South Carolina class, can it compete with the 4 new dreadnoughts of the Chinese Navy. If you take into account the three Ninghai-class battleships already in service. The number needs to increase. Essen thought for a moment and said.

"I also want to have the Imperial Navy all refurbished with brand new dreadnoughts, but now there is a question, where will the money come from? The cost of ordering a South Carolina battleship from the United States is actually more expensive than the purchase of a battleship from Germany by the Huaxia Navy, which is equipped with 12 12-inch guns and has a displacement of more than 20,000 tons. 6 ships? I'm afraid the Imperial Chancellor of the Exchequer would never agree to put so much money into this, and we need a lot of cruisers, and other auxiliary ships. Rozdvinsky shook his head and said helplessly.

"At least 4 dreadnought warships, otherwise, in the face of the four 20,000-ton warships of the Huaxia Navy, our fleet will be vulnerable. Even so, the 4 South Carolina-class battleships were at most in a short period of time with the 4 cutting-edge warships of the Huaxia Navy. Essen waved his hand to indicate that this was his bottom line. Lieutenant General Makanov, who was on the side, also nodded in support.

"And then what? Is it necessary to have 4 battleships armed with 4 12-inch guns and 8 10-inch guns to deal with the three Ninghai-class battleships of the Huaxia Navy? Rozdvinsky said with a smile.

"We can modify the four battleships, equipped with four 12-inch heavy guns and four 10-inch secondary guns, all arranged in the central axis. We can understand him as a simplified version of the South Carolina-class battleship, that is, the main gun of the carrying part is replaced with the second main gun, and we can save a lot of money. But this is the bottom line, and even so, I still think that our battleships are not enough to fight the Huaxia battleship formation. Makanov, who had not spoken, spoke. And his opinion undoubtedly represents the opinion of a front-line naval officer.

"This required the construction of 8 new battleships. This cost would conservatively cost at least £1 million, and that's just the cost of the capital ship. I would like to remind you that in the war that just ended, the empire has already spent too much money, and with the reparations, the empire's economic situation is not optimistic. These warships are probably the maximum that can be started in the next two years. Admiral Havelan's deep voice rang out in the conference room.

"Now, then, Admiral Makanov and Admiral Essen, can you give an answer to all of us here, and if we complete your eight new battleships as they requested, can you guarantee the defeat of the Chinese naval fleet?" Admiral Havelan said solemnly.

"Absolutely impossible." Makanov replied cleanly. "Even with the addition of the remaining old battleships, the Imperial battleship formation will definitely not be able to beat the Huaxia Navy, which has 4 dreadnought battleships and 3 Ninghai-class battleships, and this gap is all-round. From the quality of officers and men to the performance of warships. Just filling in the paper data simply doesn't work. ”

"Damn it." Admiral Havelan cursed in a low voice, he had worked hard to get the funds for Makanov to start construction of 8 battleships in 2 years, and swore in front of the tsar and the Minister of Finance that as long as there were 8 new warships, the Chinese Navy could be completely suppressed, but now, Makanov's answer was undoubtedly a loss of face for Admiral Havelan. That is, Makanov, if it were another general, he would never just scold two sentences!

"We still have several old battleships, such as the Petropavlov-class battleships, and the Peletvizan-class battleships with hulls under construction, and you still have a lot of resources in your hands now, I have to say, General Makanov, your answer just now has disappointed His Highness the Tsar and me." At this time, Havelan was already a little angry.

"If His Royal Highness the Tsar and you are happy that the Russian Navy can defeat the Chinese Navy, then I will not only take back my words, but I will pray for the Navy a hundred times a day before God." Although Makanov was very calm on the surface, his slightly trembling hands told everyone that Makanov's patience at this time had reached its limit.

"But victory in naval battles requires a certain foundation, and I can assert that, judging by the current strength of the fleet, we cannot achieve victory. The end result is only to be trapped in the harbor like this war, or even to be wiped out, and in a few years we will no longer be a feudal town, but a re-emerging state, and if we want to win, then we will have to pay some price! I can exchange my life for the glory of St. Andrew's flag, so can't His Royal Highness the Tsar and the government, by the way, the Admiralty, meet our minimum requirements? I repeat, 8 battleships can only be the first phase of the expansion plan, we still have a second or even the third phase! Makanov said patiently.

"General Makanov, I can't promise you more, I can only say, I will do my best, I can only guarantee that the first phase of 8 battleships will start construction in 2 years, as for more, it depends on the meaning of His Royal Highness the Tsar and the pockets of the Ministry of Finance." In the face of the increasingly gunpowder meeting, Admiral Havelan could only appease Makanov and others first, while trying to raise funds, after all, Avilan agreed with Makanov's point of view to some extent - if you want to win the Huaxia fleet, you need more investment!

"General Makanov, if I can, I hope that before His Highness the Tsar summons you, he will come up with a practical plan for battle. What we need is a guarantee of victory, and only then can we get more money. After that, Admiral Havelan thought for a moment and said.

It is said that there is a recommendation today, can you support it more??? (To be continued.) )