Hear Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin said that he wanted to build the next level of super dreadnought battleships of the British Navy, as the British Secretary of the Navy, Fisher, couldn't help but show an excited look on his face, who doesn't want his fleet to be strong, especially the British Navy, which has occupied the world naval hegemony for decades, has the intention of regaining the world's naval hegemony, and how can it regain that glory without building a large number of warships? It is in vain to shout slogans only by empty mouths and white teeth

The British Navy in the naval battle that just ended, the losses were too great, including the sinking of 15 dreadnought battleships and 16 all-steel battleships, which definitely made the British Navy hurt its bones, that is, the 8 Orion-class super dreadnought battleships that were about to be built were added to the sequence of the British Navy, and they could not make up for the losses in this naval battle.

Now that the construction of new super dreadnoughts is finally about to begin, Fisher is very excited, and he has also received the news that the prime minister has borrowed a full 150 million pounds from some banks this time, although it cannot be used for the navy, but he must strive to get the majority of this loan to the navy.

Because of Lin Daxin's birth, almost all the powerful countries in the world are desperately starting an arms race, Britain has invested a lot of money for this, coupled with a large-scale expansion of the scale of the British Army, and now a war broke out with the Chinese Empire, so that the British government's original abundant finances have also become tense, this time in order to cope with the new round of arms race after the naval war, as well as the current war expenditures, Britain's finances have to start borrowing money on a large scale.

The reason why Britain's finances have become strained. It is also because the UK is constantly building new warships, and now in addition to the 8 Orion-class super dreadnought battleships that are about to enter service. In the shipyards of the United Kingdom, there are also 8 King George V-class super dreadnought battleships that have just begun construction, and it has not been long since construction began.

Years of continuous arms race. Especially the naval arms race, even the former empire on which the sun never sets can not stand it, the British do not have Lin Daxin's golden finger, just move their fingers, they can get a huge amount of funds, for the arms race of the Chinese empire, Britain wants to participate in this game, can only use the old capital, in this way. The wealth accumulated by the British over the centuries is rapidly being consumed in such a military competition, of course, the British are still very strong, and the British have the largest gold reserves in the world, and they have not yet used much.

Fortunately, the British people are still very rich, and the huge amount of 150 million pounds is just a few British private banks. It seems that the British can still play this game for a long time.

Fisher shouted to Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? "Your Excellency, our Admiralty has designed the next class of super dreadnought battleships, known as the Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships. In order to deal with the super dreadnought battleships of the Chinese Empire with huge displacement, our Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleship has a standard displacement of 26,500 tons and a full load displacement of 30,800 tons. The length of the ship is 189.5 meters, and the width of the ship is 27 meters. It has a maximum draft of 8.7 meters and 18 boilers. 4 steam units, designed for a maximum speed of 21.5 knots, equipped with 5 twin 45 times caliber 400 mm main guns, 16 155 mm secondary guns, 14 57 mm anti-aircraft guns, 20 12.9 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, 3 533 mm torpedo tubes, horizontal armor belts 200 mm to 305 mm, deck armor 76 mm, main turret armor 280 mm, conning tower armor 280 mm, crew 1180 people, this is definitely an exceptionally powerful battleship! ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? After listening to the data of this Iron Duke-class super dreadnought, Bannavin nodded, and then asked, "So how much does this super dreadnought battleship cost?" ”

Fisher immediately said: "According to the calculations of our Admiralty, if only one Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleship is built, the cost will reach 3.25 million pounds, if four are built at the same time, then it will be compressed to 3.03 million pounds each, and if eight can be built at the same time, then the cost will be lower, and the cost of each Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleship will reach 2.95 million pounds." ”

If the number of warships of the same type is more built at one time, then the cost of construction will be evenly apportioned, like some molds used for shipbuilding, building 1 ship and building several ships, all use these molds, of course, the more you build, the lower the average cost.

"8 ships! At least 8 ships to be built! With such a powerful super dreadnought, our Royal Navy of the British Empire must build more, can the dock vacated by 8 Orion-class super dreadnought battleships be built at the same time 8 Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships? "Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin said without hesitation, 8 Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships are only 23.6 million pounds, which can still be taken out by the British Treasury who just has 150 million pounds.

War Secretary Henry Wiley couldn't help but swallow his saliva when he heard this, or the British Navy is raised by his mother, 23.6 million pounds, and the Prime Minister took it out without blinking his eyes, relatively speaking, the treatment of the British Army is much worse, that is, the military expenditure of millions of the British Army for a whole year, and it is not enough for the Navy to build a few super dreadnought battleships.

Fisher nodded again and again and said: "There is no problem, the 8 docks that are vacated, with a little modification, can build Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships, and our shipyards in the UK still have several large docks that are free, not to mention the construction of 8 Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships at the same time, even if a few more are added, our British shipyards can also build at the same time." ”

In order to play the game of the arms race, the British have vigorously expanded the large-tonnage docks in the past few years, so that the shipyards in the United Kingdom have nearly 30 docks of more than 30,000 tons, and these large docks can build a full load displacement of 30,800 tons of Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships.

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin nodded and said, "Then it's decided, our British Empire will build another 8 super dreadnought battleships at the same time, and at the same time build some other types of warships." to compensate for the losses of previous naval battles. ”

The 150 million pounds loan cannot be given to the navy in its entirety. Millions of army and so many warships need money to support them. And a considerable part of this loan also needs to be allocated for military spending on this war, and even other financial expenditures of the British government, which also need to be divided from this loan, but Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin is ready to spend at least half of his loan on the construction of new warships in the Navy, and he will spend £23.6 million to build eight Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships at the same time, which is really not too much pressure.

Even with the addition of the cost of construction of some other types of warships, it is enough to have this loan, and it is also very generous. Or even Henry? Campbell? Banavin was still wondering in his heart whether to build a few more Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships, when Fisher said: "Your Excellency, after completing the design of the Iron Duke-class super dreadnought, our Admiralty warship designers have designed our own British battlecruiser according to the Prime Minister's wishes. ”

Lin Daxin did not hide anything about the construction of the Chitu-class battlecruisers of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, and began to lay the keels of 12 Chitu-class battlecruisers in many shipyards of the Chinese Empire in one go. This made other naval powers in the world have a strong interest in this kind of battle cruiser, and the British Navy, with its strong design capabilities, did not take long. A battle cruiser was designed.

Henry? Campbell? As soon as Banavin heard about the battlecruiser, he immediately asked, "Designed now?" So how did this battlecruiser perform? ”

Fisher immediately explained: "This battlecruiser, which we named the Lion class, has a standard displacement of 26,250 tons. Full load displacement 29680 tons, in order to install more boilers. This makes the ship more than 200 meters long, reaching a staggering 213.4 meters. The width of the ship is 27 meters, The maximum draft is 9.3 meters, it has 32 boilers, 6 steam units, a designed maximum speed of 27 knots, and is equipped with 5 twin 45 times caliber 400 mm main guns, 16 102 mm secondary guns, 12 57 mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 anti-aircraft machine guns of 12.9 mm caliber, 2 533 mm torpedo tubes, horizontal armor belts from 102 mm to 228 mm, deck armor 63 mm, main turret armor 228 mm, conning tower armor 254 mm, crew 1150 people. ”

After a pause, Fisher continued: "It can be said that the Lion-class battlecruiser designed by our British Navy is no worse than the Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleship in terms of firepower, but it is far beyond in terms of speed, but it is thinner in terms of armor, this Lion-class battlecruiser is definitely an extremely powerful warship, after having the Lion-class battlecruiser, I think that the large fast armored cruisers of our British Navy do not need to be built anymore, if the large fast armored cruisers encounter strong firepower at sea, A faster battlecruiser had no other chance of sinking than to sink. ”

Henry? Campbell? Banervin is very interested in battle cruisers, since he knew that the Chinese Empire began to build this kind of warship, he thought that the battle cruiser has the high speed of the cruiser and the high firepower of the battleship, which can be used to suppress the opponent's large fast armored cruiser or attack the damaged and lone battleship, and can be regarded as a battleship that reduces armor in exchange for mobility, he believes that with the battlecruiser, the tactics of the British Navy will become more diverse and more aggressive, So to hear about the performance of the Lion-class battlecruisers, Henry? Campbell? Banavin couldn't help but smile on his face.

"How much does this Lion-class battlecruiser cost?" Henry? Campbell? Banavin asked

Fisher replied: "If we build only one Lion-class battlecruiser, the cost will be £2.88 million, if four are built at the same time, then each Lion-class battlecruiser will be reduced to £2.72 million, and if we can build eight at the same time, the cost will be lower, about £2.65 million each." ”

"So after we build 8 King George V-class super dreadnought battleships, and soon build 8 Iron Duke-class super dreadnought battleships, how many docks can we have now to build this Lion-class battlecruiser?" Henry? Campbell? Banavin then asked.

Fisher said without hesitation: "12!" At present, in addition to the large docks occupied by the construction of 16 super dreadnought battleships, our British shipyards also have 12 docks with a tonnage of more than 30,000 tons, all of which can build Lion-class battlecruisers. ”

"So are all the 12 large dockyards idle now?"

"Hmm...... There are 4 large fast armored cruisers with a displacement of about 10,000 tons currently under construction, and we do not have enough docks to make large fast armored cruisers, so we occupy 4 large docks, and 4 large docks are building merchant ships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, and only 4 large docks are empty. ”

"Fisher, is it true that with the battle cruisers, the role of large fast armored cruisers is much less?"

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister, the firepower of the battle cruisers is completely superior to that of large fast armored cruisers, and the speed is no slower than that of large fast armored cruisers, and I think that the large fast armored cruisers of our British Navy will no longer be defined as the main warships."

"How far have you been built 8 large fast armored cruisers and 4 merchant ships in 4 large docks? How long will it take to finish? ”

"Prime Minister, these 4 large fast armored cruisers and 4 merchant ships were all planned to be built not long ago, and they have only completed the laying of the keel, and it will take a lot of time before they are all completed."

"Then immediately stop the construction of 4 large dockyard large fast armored cruisers, and at the same time stop the construction of another 4 large dock merchant ships, and our British Empire will build 12 Lion-class battlecruisers at the same time, which cannot be less than the battle cruisers of the Chinese Empire."

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin decided to make Fisher almost jump, 12 Lion-class battlecruisers, he heard him right, right?

Fisher asked excitedly, "12?" God, is it really 12? ”

Henry? Campbell? Banavin nodded and said, "If you build 12 Lion-class battlecruisers at the same time, can the cost be lower?" ”

"Yes! Absolutely! If 12 ships are built at the same time, it will be at least 2 or 30,000 pounds lower than building 8 ships. (To be continued.) )