If at the beginning, Britain pulled Belgium and the Netherlands into the gang mainly for the sake of gaining momentum, then now, after the two sides are at full speed and the arms race between the two sides has officially entered the white heat, Britain and France believe that these small countries must also do their part for the possible outbreak of war in the future! In particular, the performance of the Netherlands, a former coachman at sea and a European naval power, in the Second Sino-Russian War was still satisfactory to the British. So the British thought that the Netherlands should do more in terms of the navy.

The current Netherlands has weakened a lot compared to the historical Netherlands, not only because of the loss of the most valuable Dutch East Indies colony in the Second Sino-Russian War, but also because in order to prepare for this doomed war, the Dutch spent tens of millions of pounds before and after! And this fleet, built with money, is now in ashes. If they want to continue to make a difference, the Dutch have to start from scratch.

"The Dutch navy should have a small number of capital ships in order to help the French navy maintain the balance of power in the Mediterranean, and in the future maritime strategy, the British Imperial fleet should focus mainly on the North Sea, and at the same time quickly clear the Turks and the German Far East fleet before the start of the war to ensure the safety of navigation in the Indian Ocean, and then the main force of the entire fleet should gather in the North Sea to suppress the German navy. The Dutch, on the other hand, had to enter the Mediterranean, and in order to ensure sufficient deterrence, the Dutch fleet had at least 2 super dreadnoughts to be effective. Of course, in the current situation in the Netherlands, this task may be a bit daunting. The role of the Netherlands was described in British diplomatic documents.

In order to ensure that the Netherlands would be able to compensate for the lack of the Entente navy as envisaged by the British, the British and the French jointly pledged to provide the Netherlands with land security guarantees. The French even assuredly assurance: "As long as the Dutch navy can do its due contribution to the Entente." Then even if the Netherlands had only the police, and no army, then Britain and France would still be guaranteed to keep the Germans out of Dutch territory! "The French did this in addition to the expansion of the Dutch navy. At the same time, it is also to minimize the situation of multiple leadership on the side of the army, after all, there are now four troops on the entire Western Front, the French Army, the British Expeditionary Force, the Belgian Army and the Dutch Army, so it is very troublesome to command and mobilize, in the eyes of the French, just the Dutch Army. The command trouble brought by it is not comparable to that combat effectiveness, it is better to let the Dutch take care of something else.

After some discussion, it was indeed a good note that the Dutch had left the responsibility of the French for land security. After all, if there were no Britain and France, the Netherlands would never be able to compete with the German army no matter how much it expanded its army. And the navy, according to the British description, the Dutch fleet was to be sent to the Mediterranean to participate in the battle. Relative to the fierce North Sea (at least that's what the Dutch thought. The battle in the Mediterranean should be easier. After all, the focus of Austria-Hungary was not on the sea. Although Italy can be regarded as a naval power in terms of scale, after all, it has not fought a naval battle for decades, and I am afraid that the level will not be very high, at least many officers and men of the Dutch fleet have experienced actual combat tests! So the Dutch are still more confident.

Since the army is managed by someone else, (although unwilling, but there is no way to do it.) Then the Navy will inevitably receive more funding. Judging by the current situation, in the next 6 years or so, the Netherlands can come up with almost 700,000 pounds a year to order warships. Full of money. The Dutch were also able to amass 2 super-dreadnoughts. Now, who to find to build the ship has become a very critical issue. The Dutch face the same problems as Australia and New Zealand. The old naval powers are taking care of themselves. The British can produce capacity. But the performance is really not flattering. As a warship that will be used for at least 15-20 years in the future, the Dutch naturally cannot afford to be sloppy.

Finding the Huaxia Republic is a good way in theory, but in practice, because of the war that has just ended between Huaxia and the Netherlands, as well as the loss of colonies, the Dutch naturally do not look for the Huaxia Republic. Now, then, the only country that can be found may be the United States on the other side of the ocean, although the Dutch are not interested in the warships built by the United States for Russia. But in the spirit of the principle that something is better than nothing, the Dutch decided to give the order for the first ship to the Americans!

After the dust settled on the Dutch side, the British began to help Greece rearm its navy, and according to the original intention of Greece, the Greeks intended to buy a Chinese Republic of 2 dreadnoughts. It could be a Longxu-class battlecruiser, or it could be a Longteng-class battleship. But just when the Greeks were struggling, they suddenly found out that the Turks had actually ordered super-dreadnought battleships in Huaxia! The ship, which they had not yet bought, became obsolete almost overnight, which made it unbearable for the Greeks anyway! Now the question arises, whether to continue to order second-hand warships, or buy new ones.

The Entente's environment in the Mediterranean was far worse than that in the North Sea, and as the main forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet retreated home, the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets became the masters of the Mediterranean. Even if the Greeks preemptively bought the dreadnoughts back, Greece would never have attacked Turkey first. Italy and Austria-Hungary said that although they were far inferior to Britain and Germany, they still had no problem crushing Greece. Therefore, the current Greece can only switch from the original active offensive to passive defense. So it's not very tight in terms of time.

Now Greece has a new consideration. In order to maintain the balance of power with Turkey, at least the other side should not be thrown too far, in fact, in this regard, the British concealed some information for their own interests, that is, in the future, Turkey will not deploy too much military forces in the Mediterranean, and the main forces of the Turkish Navy and the Spee's fleet will be concentrated in the Persian Gulf and concentrate on striking the Indian Ocean shipping lanes. And Greece, without knowing it, naturally believes that the purpose of Turkey's purchase of new warships is to deal with Greece. In order to ensure its own security, Greece considers it necessary to also increase new military spending.

However, as a country that has just become independent for a long time and has lost a war, Greece at this time can really be said to be exhausted. Turkey has just tightened its belts and just scraped together the money for a ship, and Greece has not even found the money for a ship yet! On the one hand, the British said that they could sell a second-hand dreadnought to Greece at a relatively low price through diplomacy and other means. On the other hand, Britain could provide Greece with some funds to build new warships in the United States. The latter, of course, had the premise that in the event of war, the Greek fleet would be placed under British command. This is a harsh request, but as a weak country, Greece obviously has no possibility of refusing. Surrounded by strong enemies, who does not rely on the UK?

But to be honest, don't look at the UK so hard, it is to help find a way and provide financial support. But the British know that it doesn't make much sense to rely on these countries if they really fight. The only ones who can really change the tide of war are the big powers. In fact, the British never gave up on the great powers that had been watching. These big countries have ambitions and more strength, but they are just waiting for an opportunity now!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 and the book friend Crack Wings for the reward, as well as the book friend to see the public version of the monthly pass support~~~. In yesterday's ongoing tragedy of subscriptions, the two days combined were not as good as two-thirds of Monday's subscriptions——! The author is sad——! This is still in the period of strong promotion of classification——! (To be continued......)