As the shipbuilding race between Britain and Germany intensified, the world's great powers were inevitably infected with this-for-tat tension.

In 1908, in the face of the aggressive threat of the German Navy, the Royal Navy, under heavy pressure, took the lead in the era of super-dreadnoughts. They improved the turret layout and equipped the Giant-class battleships that were built that year with eight 343 mm L45 heavy guns, and the subsequent Orion-class battleships increased the number of guns to 10. The German Navy, which was determined to take the Poseidon Trident from the British, was also not far behind, and although the Caesar-class was only equipped with 8 main guns, the caliber was increased to 350 mm; With its traditional defensive advantages, the overall performance is not inferior to that of the British Orion class.

The upgrade of the guns of the battleships between Britain and Germany suddenly pushed the atmosphere of constant tension between the great powers of the world to a new peak. Compared with the standard configuration of 8 to 10 305mm guns of ordinary dreadnoughts, the Orion and Caesar classes obviously have an overwhelming advantage in firepower; Once these two capital ships engage in a naval confrontation, the early dreadnoughts will be killed by these juniors without any suspense!

At the beginning of 1906, the dreadnought was born, sweeping all traditional battleships into the dustbin of history; However, only three years later, this super battleship, which has been fanatically pursued by all countries in the world, has become an obsolete product under the crushing of the wheels of history. Equipped with a larger caliber of main guns, the ultra-dreadnoughts have undoubtedly become the new darlings of the navies of the great powers with 30% to 80% more firepower than the traditional dreadnoughts, and they are the most powerful weapons of war that symbolize the power of the empire! At the beginning of the 20th century, the rapid development of science and technology was vividly reflected in the upgrading of naval ships, and the cruelty and fierce competition made countless second- and third-rate countries with maritime dreams exhausted. It is also only a core power supported by a strong economic foundation and industrial strength. In order to keep this money-burning game alive!

As the richest local tyrant on the planet. The United States, following Britain and Germany, was the first to take corresponding action. Although isolationism prevails in the United States at the moment. Parliamentarians and the public all "watched" the shipbuilding competition between Britain and Germany with an attitude of spectators, but the news that Japan had ordered two Hanoi-class super-dreadnoughts in Germany instantly tensed the nerves of the Americans. Since the end of the Battle of Tsushima, both the United States and Japan have regarded each other as their number one imaginary enemy; Now that the Japanese are preparing to be super-dreadnought, how can the United States sit idly by? At the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy urgently revised the design drawings of the Wyoming-class battleships; They upgraded the original plan of 6 twin 305mm guns to 5 twin 356mm heavy guns, which was on the same level as the firepower of Japan's super dreadnoughts. In June 1910, two brand-new Wyoming-class battleships were keeled at the Crumple Shipyard in Philadelphia and the New York Shipyard; Tall freeboard and a range of more than 8000 nautical miles. It's enough to make them play in the vast Pacific Ocean. Combined with the two South Carolina-class, two Delaware-class, and the two Florida-class ships that are already in service, the U.S. Navy is fully confident that it will be able to defeat the newly rising Japanese Combined Fleet in one fell swoop in the Pacific theater.

And in the Mediterranean Rim, the great powers also began their own super-dreadnought processes.

Since Britain and Germany, who had provoked the naval race, were on their doorstep, the French felt the tension of this-for-tat at the first moment. However, what makes Paris feel embarrassed and bitter is that at this time, France has completely lost the qualifications and confidence to participate in this kind of top power money-burning game. Since 1870, the Gallic rooster that swept across the continent that year was kicked by the Germans out of the sequence of the world's top powers. Although the French were able to catch up, the country's greedy capitalists and financial oligarchs ruined France's chances of re-emergence. Because these guys threw all the precious money in their hands abroad to lend usury, the real economy of France struggled to grow in the barren soil without financial support for the following decades; This kind of development is based on the basics. The results can be imagined. At the end of the year, France was far surpassed by Germany in terms of both economic output and industrial output; And a lot of the money earned from the issuance of usury went into the private pockets of the capitalist oligarchs. The French government can really get a fraction of what the capitalists can gain from this!

Under these circumstances, it would have been impossible for the French to reproduce the grandeur of the Second Navy of the World, but the navy had to be built. According to a secret agreement signed between Britain and France in 1906, the French navy had to assume full responsibility for the maritime defense of the Mediterranean region; Faced with the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets, which had built a total of six dreadnoughts, the expansion of the French navy was inevitable. Otherwise, the Allies would have lost control of the Mediterranean, and the Allied fleet, which had naval supremacy, would have landed in Egypt and Tunisia and wiped out all the British and French colonies in Africa!

At present, the French have built only six Danton-class dreadnoughts, which are far inferior to their Italian and Austro-Hungarian counterparts in terms of fire protection and speed. Faced with the rapid expansion of the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies in 1909, the French could not sit still. At the instigation of Delcasser, who fanatically advocated revenge against Germany, the French Navy immediately approved a naval budget for the construction of four new battleships over the next two years in order to re-stabilize the current shaky situation in the Mediterranean; And in the layout of the main guns and the choice of caliber, the French have also made great progress beyond history.

In this plane, because Britain gave all the drawings of its giant-class battleships to the French Navy, the French had a new understanding of their capital ships: the layout of the turrets arranged on the side was abandoned, and the large-caliber main guns became the main theme of the French Navy! After more than a year of intense design, the French launched their new Lone class battleship in 1910: its standard displacement of 22,200 tons, speed of 20 knots, five twin 340 mm L45 main guns all along the central axis of the knapsack, the overall performance has been improved to a considerable extent compared with the historical Lone class. However, these ships also retained the poor characteristics of French ships during World War I: their poor armor made it difficult for them to withstand shells fired by enemy battleships in a frontal battle, and their underwater protection was even more tragic than their British counterparts due to their tall freeboard!

The expansion of the French navy undoubtedly affected the fleets of Italy and Austria-Hungary, which were in the same sea. As a traditional maritime power in the Mediterranean, the Italians were particularly concerned about the naval development of the French, who had brazenly annexed their own forbidden Tunisia; The successive construction of the Lone-class super-dreadnoughts undoubtedly caused a strong hurricane in the Italian Navy. After the construction of 1 Dante and 2 Count Cavour-class battleships was started one after another, Italy quickly passed 3 Andrea? The budget for the construction of the Doria-class superdreadnought: the class of ships follows the hull dimensions of the Count Cavour-class, with firepower increased from 13 305 mm to 8 356 mm guns, and four twin main guns are knapsacked along the central axis. The military industry of Andoza began to develop a 356 mm naval gun that met the requirements for the navy, so that it could be equipped with this class of cutting-edge warships on schedule in 1913.

At the same time that France and Italy both approved their own budgets for the construction of super-dreadnoughts, Austria-Hungary also sent the construction drawings of the new battleship to the Trieste shipbuilding base. As the leading overlord of the machinery industry on the European continent other than Germany, Austria-Hungary, which has joined the Skoda military industry, is not weaker than France and Italy in the field of battleship construction. After the construction of three 16,200-ton Radetz-class dreadnoughts was started one after another, and in the face of the severe sea situation like a boat sailing against the current, Crown Prince Ferdinand, who was keen on the construction of the great navy, learned the pros and cons at the two congresses, and finally won valuable funds for the development of the navy. In July 1910, construction began on two super-dreadnoughts equipped with eight 350-mm guns; Archduke Ferdinand, who personally presided over the groundbreaking ceremony, named them the United Force and the Taghof respectively, in honor of the Austrian admiral who won more in the world-famous Battle of Lisa, and symbolized the prosperity and unity of the entire empire.

As for Qingying's in-laws, Russia, they also made their own voices in this ultra-fearless competition that swept the world. With the increasing stability of the country and the gradual recovery of the national economy, the Russian giant began to reorganize its dilapidated Baltic Fleet; Even if they did not expect to defeat the German High Seas Fleet, the Russians needed to guard their doorstep to prevent the German fleet from sweeping and landing on the Baltic Sea coast as if no one was there. And to achieve this goal, it is obviously impossible to do it with the current mines and dreadnoughts!

Under these circumstances, in 1910 the Russians started construction of three Sevastopol-class battleships at the same time, and because the British provided their battleship drawings free of charge, the Russians were very different from history. Since the Hanoi-class battleships ordered by Japan in Germany were equipped with 356-mm guns commissioned by the British Vickers Military Industry, the Russians decided to equip the Sevastopol-class battleships with eight British-made 356-mm naval guns to form a firepower advantage over the German Kaiser-class. In the Black Sea, the Russians also started construction of 2 ships of the same class. And with the start of construction of these 2 battleships, the Turks in the south were suddenly under great pressure, and they have already begun to think about ordering another 1 or 2 battleships on the current basis! (To be continued......)

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