Just when Qingying was worried about how to convey this plan based on the vision of later generations to Vienna, the news from the United States on the other side of the ocean opened up the whole chess game in which he fell into stagnation.

According to the latest decree issued by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the United States government will allocate $1.5 billion to the Navy over the next three years, of which $360 million will be spent on the purchase of new warships. The news almost brought tears of joy to Daniels and Roosevelt Jr. You must know that even the latest Pennsylvania-class battleship purchased by the US Navy today is estimated to cost only $15 million per ship; Even destroyers and cruisers will spend some money, and 6 to 7 large capital ships will not run every year!

Daniels, who had become rich overnight, immediately ordered the General Council of the Navy to make corresponding changes to the existing design. Previously, in order to evade congressional files, American designers had to try to reduce the tonnage and cost of warships in order to secure funding for the construction of warships: the triple saddle main guns used in the Nevada-class and Pennsylvania-class are typical examples of compromises in development and construction costs. Now they have finally untied the chains of money that have been tied to them for many years, and they are able to sketch the ideal warship of the United States Navy on the design drawings without any scruples; Not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of the quality of warships, the Americans will also make a big leap forward, and although there may be failures in wasting tonnage, the combat effectiveness formed by relying on large tonnage is also beyond the reach of small-tonnage warships.

This extremely high-profile behavior of the Americans is bound to arouse strong concern from other countries and follow suit. British shipyards already had a large number of capital ships in an unfinished state, and the U.S. Navy was massively expanded. This will inevitably lead them to dispute the current Anglo-German naval ratio. At the same time, more new ships were required to be able to enter service after the war. And Japan, which was originally afraid that the world would not be chaotic. It will jump up like a vicious dog that has been stepped on by its tail, and participate in this naval arms race in which only the world's first-class powers are qualified to be in it with the fierce attitude of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers.

For Germany, a new wave of fleet expansion in the post-war world is undoubtedly a situation that is quite unfavorable to Germany. It is true that with the national strength of Germany today, it is completely unafraid of a naval race with Britain, but it is still far from being able to compete with the Americans in a marathon of national strength. In 1912, before the outbreak of the war, Germany's national income was £2.7 billion. In the United States, there are 7.4 billion, more than three times that of Germany. Although under the leadership of Tirpitz, the German Navy reported that the utilization rate of funds on new ships was much higher than that of the United States, reaching an astonishing 50.5%; However, due to the fact that the total amount of funds between the two sides is too big after all, it is really impossible to beat the opponent!

What Germany needs today is 20 years to digest the victories of the Great War in Europe, so it would undoubtedly be best to convene a worldwide conference on the limitation of naval armaments, as has been the case in history, to ensure in a relaxed way the vested superiority that Germany has now achieved. Qing Ying immediately took advantage of the opportunity of the large-scale expansion of the US Navy to inform the Vienna government of his thoughts on the disarmament conference: if there are now requirements for these French warships. Then the future can only survive on these broken copper and iron, and if it is abandoned. In the future, it will be possible to build more powerful capital ships.

Under the persuasion of Qing Ying, the Austro-Hungarian side finally reluctantly recognized his construction, and at the negotiating table, the distribution of these French capital ships was ceded to Italy. And this made the somewhat surprised Italians rejoice in their diplomatic victory. According to the treaty finally signed between the two sides, Austria-Hungary received only 14 800-ton destroyers from France to strengthen its auxiliary forces. Turkey got the other four, while Italy got the full Kolbe class. Thinking that the total tonnage of the long-cherished enemy Austria-Hungary was less than half of that of one of their battleships, the Italians could wake up from their dreams laughing when they fell asleep!

"When the distribution here is over, I hope that your country will be able to follow the previous agreement and win for us a naval tonnage at the negotiating table that is not inferior to that of the Italians." Looking at the row of slender destroyers moored in the harbor, Horti, who had a square face, couldn't help but say to Raeder beside him. Although these French destroyers also made up for the top-heavy situation of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in a large way, compared to the lavish feast of the Italians on the capital ships, they obviously got very little. And Horthy also believed that the German officer next to him would be able to give a positive answer to his words: the other party, like himself, was a young man with a low rank, but who was qualified to touch some core affairs of Germany and Austria.

"Please rest assured. Germany has always been kind to its sincere and reliable allies, and this has been best expressed in the past few years. Your country's interests in the Mediterranean are also Germany's interests, and we will certainly not allow your fleet to be suppressed by any regional power. Hearing the Austrian's words, Raeder only smiled, "When the treaty is concluded, your country, with a large number of new ships, will naturally replace Italy as the new dominant power in the Mediterranean!" ”

The sun is warm and the sea breeze is warm. While the Austrians were arrogantly negotiating with the local French defenders, Raeder led a group of German sailors to the office building of the port shipyard. Although Germany did not make any demands on the French fleet for warships under the spoils treaty signed by the Central Powers, this did not mean that they were really dismissive of the enemy's navy. In a certain sense, the technology of its design and construction is a more valuable gain than the battleship itself.

It is true that the French fleet during the First World War was indeed lackluster, whether it was Danton, Corbe, or Brittany, these capital ships were synonymous with high quality and high price. However, after years of exploration and exploration, the French have made remarkable achievements in the field of some subsystems of the new warship.

After the construction of four Kolbe-class battleships, the French already felt that the twin turrets had a huge inadequacy in the control of the tonnage of the battleship: in order to achieve the firepower of 10 340 mm guns, the main body size of the Kolbe-class was close to the limit of the size of the French dockyard and the depth of the water in the port, and the performance of the warships of this class was still inferior to the new capital ships of the British and American powers. The expansion of the dockyard will not only consume considerable funds, but will also delay the start of construction of the new warship by more than a year, which is undoubtedly a situation that France, which is engaged in a vigorous naval competition with Italy and Austria.

In order to control the tonnage and ensure the construction period, and at the same time obtain the combat effectiveness that can compete with the new Itaville battleships, the French designers created Zào to equip the next battleship with quadruple main guns: after calculation, the comprehensive weight of the battleship equipped with 3 quadruple main guns is even lower than that of 5 twin, but its firepower is increased by 20%! After the full research and development of the Saint-Chamond Arsenal, the new quadruple main gun has entered the stage of practical use, and this layout method of doing more with less is immediately adopted by the French Navy.

In 1912, the three new Brittany-class ships in France were equipped with three quadruple 340 mm guns, and their corresponding standing displacement was only 25,000 tons, which could be built with the existing docks. In 1913, the French Navy, which had completed the expansion of the dockyard, started construction of five Normandy-class battleships in one go: the ship had a standing displacement of 29,000 tons and was designed to be equipped with three quadruple 370 mm guns. Although the caliber of the main guns was weaker than the 380 mm of the Italian Caracciolo class and the Austro-Hungarian San István class, with the superior delivery of 12 guns, the French had every reason to think that their ships would win the naval battle!

However, with the defeat on land, these unfinished French sea behemoths have all received death sentences. All the unfinished ships were dismantled, including Brittany, which was being outfitted, and Normandy, which was nearing the completion of its hull. However, Qingying was not prepared to let the efforts of the French be completely buried in the dust. At present, the sailors led by Raeder came to the port of Toulon to snatch the design drawings and objects of the quadruple turret. If Germany could take this unprecedented innovation and use it for future ships, it would undoubtedly be worth much more than capturing a few gunboats!

In addition, the power of the new French ships is also really interesting. Although the French ships of the First World War did not have a very good performance, they did have a post-war performance in another plane: their power system output per unit weight was 50% higher than that of their British and American counterparts, and this was achieved with a rather low main steam parameter! Although the Italian navy of Wencheng Wude is also excellent in the field of power, it is still inferior to France in the later period: the power weight of the Richelieu and Veneto built by France and Italy at the same time is similar, but the limit output of the former is as high as 178,000 horsepower, and the latter is only 137,000.

Although there is no direct evidence that there is a direct connection between the French dynamics of World War I and the rebellion of the younger generations, it is definitely not a trivial matter for Raeder to confiscate all the materials of these predecessors and bring them back to Germany for careful study. If German designers can grasp the essence of this, it is a great reward. (To be continued......)