Germany and Austria-Hungary have not stopped expanding their armies since the end of the last war, and the other two countries of the Central Powers, Italy and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, will certainly not be idle. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

After the end of the last war with the Chinese Empire, Italy ceded the Somali region of the Italian East African colonies to the Chinese Empire, and also compensated the Chinese Empire with war reparations equivalent to 25 million pounds. Emmanuele III, regarded it as another great shame for the Kingdom of Italy, so Italy very consciously joined the arms race in the world. Emmanuele III also always believed that the Chinese Empire was the enemy of the Kingdom of Italy, and the death of the previous Italian king, Umberto I, was killed by Vittorio? Emanuele III was counted on the Chinese Empire.

In the war with the Chinese Empire, Italy worked very hard, so that after the end of the war, the entire Italian Navy was left with only 1 Count Cavour-class dreadnought battleship, 3 all-steel battleships, 2 large fast armored cruisers, 4 fast protection cruisers and 6 destroyers, as well as some small ships such as torpedo boats, and the overall strength of the Italian Navy suffered extremely heavy losses.

Fortunately, less than half a year after the end of the war, the Italian Navy's 6 Doria-class super dreadnought battleships were built one after another, entering the ranks of the Italian Navy. Emanuele III, after the war, raised funds in many ways to build 2 Roman-class aircraft carriers, 2 Litorio-class super dreadnought battleships and 2 Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruisers for the Italian Navy, and now these 6 capital battleships have all been built, bringing the number of main warships of the Italian Navy to 13.

The Roman-class aircraft carrier has a full load displacement of 21,500 tons, a length of 228 meters, a width of 37.3 meters, a maximum draft of 7.6 meters, a design maximum speed of 24 knots, equipped with 22 47 mm anti-aircraft guns and 28 anti-aircraft machine guns, equipped with 28 aircraft carrier fighters, 12 aircraft carrier dive bombers, 12 aircraft carrier torpedo bombers and 2 reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Italy itself. But it was a little stronger than the Austro-Hungarian carrier-based aircraft.

The Litorio-class super dreadnought battleship is designed and built on the basis of the Doria class, with a standard displacement of 25,680 tons, a full load displacement of 30,200 tons, and a ship length of 192 meters. It has a width of 30.5 meters, a draft of 10.5 meters, a maximum speed of 24 knots, and is equipped with 5 twin 45-caliber 381 mm main guns, 10 135 mm secondary guns, 20 47 mm anti-aircraft guns, 22 anti-aircraft machine guns, 3 500 mm torpedo tubes, horizontal armor 200 mm to 280 mm, deck armor 57 mm, main turret armor 310 mm, conning tower armor 310 mm, crew 1320 people.

The Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruiser was the first battlecruiser designed and produced by the Italian Navy, with a standard displacement of 25200 tons and a full load displacement of 29100 tons. The length of the ship is 210.5 meters, the width of the ship is 28.5 meters, the maximum draft is 9.2 meters, the maximum speed is 27 knots, it is equipped with 5 twin 45 times the caliber 343 mm main gun, 135 mm secondary guns, 20 47 mm anti-aircraft guns, 22 anti-aircraft machine guns, 3 500 mm torpedo tubes, horizontal armor belts from 120 mm to 229 mm, deck armor 57 mm, main turret armor 248 mm, conning tower armor 248 mm, and a crew of 1290 people.

The Italian Navy was later equipped with 2 Roman-class aircraft carriers, 2 Litorio-class super dreadnought battleships and 2 Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruisers, all of which were very good in performance, but unfortunately Italy's finances did not allow King Vittorio? Emanuele III builds more capital ships, otherwise according to Vittorio? The temper of Emmanuele III, as well as the strong shipbuilding industry in Italy, led to the construction of at least 6 more of each type of capital warship.

The Italian Air Force is equipped with more than 500 new fighters developed and produced by Italy itself, and its performance is higher than that of the Austro-Hungarian fighters, but it is worse than the new fighters of the Luftwaffe, but the gap is not so obvious.

The size of the Italian Army is also currently at 1 million, and in Vittorio? Under the watchful eye of Emanuele III, it was equipped with a large number of tanks, armored vehicles and heavy artillery.

Vittorio? Emanuele III has always believed that the entire Western world will never sit idly by and watch the Chinese Empire become the leader of this world, and that war between Western countries and the Chinese Empire will inevitably break out, and then the Kingdom of Italy will have a chance to take revenge.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the last war, it was a big blow to the prestige of the three giants of the Young Turks who had just come to power, and some political enemies were also ready to move, but the three giants of the Young Turks, relying on iron-blooded means, quickly made the entire Ottoman Turkish Empire understand that now the Ottoman Turkish Empire has been completely controlled by the three giants of the Young Turks, even Sultan Mehmed VI, the nominal supreme ruler of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, It can only be at the mercy of the Big Three.

On behalf of the interests of the bourgeoisie and liberal landlords of the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turks advocated maintaining the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, but in the war with the Chinese Empire, the Ottoman Turks ceded the Kuwait region to the Chinese Empire and had to pay the equivalent of 15 million pounds in war reparations, which made the Big Three of the Young Turks feel humiliated.

In order to restore the previous glory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and have the opportunity to seek justice from the Chinese Empire in the future, the three giants of the Young Turks spared no effort to expand the military power of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

The shipbuilding industry of the Ottoman Turkish Empire itself was very backward due to historical reasons, and even warships such as torpedo boats, the Ottoman Turkish Empire could not build itself before the Young Turks took power, although after the Young Turks came to power, they increased their investment in local shipyards, but in a short period of time, the navy of the Ottoman Turkish Empire could only rely on purchased warships to supplement its strength.

In the last war, the two Dante-class dreadnoughts that the Ottoman Turkish Navy had previously purchased from Italy were all sunk, but the two Dante-class dreadnoughts that the Ottoman Turkish Navy had ordered from Italy during the war had already returned to the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

After the end of the war, the three giants of the Young Turks, who were eager to expand the military power of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, used part of the wealth left by successive sultans to order 4 Doria-class super dreadnought battleships, 6 large fast armored cruisers, 8 fast protection cruisers, 12 destroyers and 20 torpedo boats from Italy, and now these warships have all returned to the Ottoman Turkish Empire, so that the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Navy has 6 main warships, although it is within the Entente and the Central PowersThe Ottoman Turkish Empire was the weakest in naval strength, but it was already proud of the rest of Europe.

Moreover, the expansion of the navy by the three giants of the Ottoman Turkish Empire Young Turks has not stopped, and in the shipyards of Italy, there are already 4 Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruisers, 6 fast protection cruisers and 6 destroyers of the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Navy.

Once the four Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruisers from the Italian shipyards, as well as the two Siegfelli-class aircraft carriers and the two Bavaria-class super-dreadnought battleships ordered from Germany, join the ranks of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the number of its main warships will even exceed that of the Italian Navy at this time, reaching 14 ships.

The Ottoman Empire also ordered a large number of new fighters from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, respectively, and equipped them with the Ottoman Turkish Empire's air force, making its air force now a force to be reckoned with in Europe.

The Ottoman Imperial Army's army has always maintained a considerable size, and now the total strength of the Ottoman Imperial Army has reached 3.5 million, even exceeding the German Army in the Central Powers, but the Ottoman Imperial Army is very backward in equipment, and the heavy weapons are very small.

The reason why the Ottoman Turkish Empire established such a large scale of army units is largely because of Russia, you must know that the Ottoman Turkish Empire and Russia have fought a series of wars in the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Crimea, the Black Sea and other regions, and the large-scale Russian-Turkish wars have been fought 10 times, and a large amount of the Ottoman Turkish Empire has been occupied by Russia, and now Russia has built a huge army of 7 million against the Chinese Empire. And because all of Russia's Asian regions were invaded by the Chinese Empire, this huge 7 million army troops were all in Europe, which made the Ottoman Turkish Empire suddenly walk on pins and needles.

Who knows if the Russians will have a cramp in their heads and directly launch the 11th Russo-Turkish War to recover some losses from the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Of course, because of the confrontation between the Entente and the Central Powers, it was unlikely that the Russians would wage war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, but the triumvirate of the Young Turks of the Ottoman Turkish Empire still used the wealth left by successive sultans to form a large army, and placed the main force of its army on the front line near the Russian border.

In the royal palace of Rome, the capital of Italy, the king of Italy, Vittorio? Emanuele III said in a deep voice to Italy's Prime Minister Brandra and Admiral Robert: "The matter of Spain's accession to the Central Powers has basically been finalized, so that the strength of the five countries of the Central Powers is not much weaker than that of Britain, France, and Russia of the Entente countries, but I summoned you here today for other things, you should already know that the Ottoman Turkish Empire has ordered 2 Siegfli-class aircraft carriers and 2 Bavaria-class super dreadnought battleships from Germany, You must know that the Ottoman Turkish Empire has been the largest buyer of our Italian shipyards in recent years, except for the Italian Navy, and now our Italian shipyards have not received such a large order, what is your explanation? ”

Prime Minister Brandra sighed and said: "In fact, the price quoted by our Italian shipyards to the Ottoman Turkish Empire for Roman-class aircraft carriers and Litorio-class super dreadnought battleships is much cheaper than the two main warships of German shipyards, which has reduced a lot of profit margins, even if the performance gap between the two main warships is removed, in terms of cost performance, our Italian shipyards also have a very big advantage, and the price of German shipyards is quite high, but in the end the Ottoman Turkish Empire still chose German shipyards." There really is no way. ”

Admiral Robert sighed and said: "If the Ottoman Turkish Empire can hand over this order of 4 capital warships to our shipyards in Italy, then the profit will be enough for us to build another Litorio-class super dreadnought battleship, and it will be more than enough, but it's a pity!" ”

Vittorio? Emanuele III shook his head and said, "Forget it, since the Ottoman Turkish Empire is willing to be the wrongdoer, then we don't need to stop it!" However, if the four capital warships ordered by the Ottoman Turkish Empire in Germany, as well as the four Leonardo da Vinci-class battlecruisers that we Italy are building for them, all join the Ottoman Turkish Empire's navy, then the number of capital warships will even surpass our Italian navy. ”

A pause for Vittorio? Emanuele III told Prime Minister Brandra: "Will the profits of the previous shipyards, and the funds currently available to the national treasury, cover the cost of the construction of two Roman-class aircraft carriers and two Litorio-class super-dreadnought battleships?" ”

Prime Minister Brandra pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, if it is a Roman-class aircraft carrier and a Litorio-class super dreadnought battleship, there should be no problem, and if there are more, the national treasury will not be able to come up." ”

At this time, the Minister of the Navy, Roberte, suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the Minister has been careful about the military expenditure of the Navy in recent years, and now the military expenditure of the Navy is enough to take out a part of the funds to build a Roman-class aircraft carrier." (To be continued.) )