"Jericho thinks I'm dizzy, thinks I can't see the situation clearly, thinks I don't know that in the future the British, French and Russian navies will not have much advantage over their opponents, but they are wrong, and anyone who can sit in the position of Lord of the Navy is not an idiot. In this war we cannot balance both quantitative and qualitative superiority, and I have to admit that in future naval battles, the British Royal Navy will be challenged like never before. In peacetime, the gap between us and the German Navy will not widen. It was only in wartime, when the Germans needed to strengthen their army, that their shipbuilding slowed down. Therefore, the early period after the start of the war will be the most dangerous period for the British Navy. The gap between the two sides is minimal. ”

"We have to wait for the launch of a large number of battleships on the slipway before we can gradually widen the gap between the two sides, and since the quality is no longer guaranteed, then we must have the advantage in numbers as much as possible, using the scale and the huge caliber of artillery to frighten the enemy! If it had fought from the beginning, the British Empire could have lost the war in a single day. The Grand Fleet of the British Empire is not afraid of any challenge, but it cannot take the fortunes of the Empire lightly! Sir Fisher said calmly.

"Jericho is a soldier, a pure soldier, from a military point of view, he is perfect, he knows what kind of ships the fleet needs to win. But from a political point of view, he is unqualified. He does not understand what kind of fleet is a deterrent! For the same price, our shipyards in the British Empire could build 5 battleships armed with 10 13.5-inch guns, for a total of 50 guns. And if it is handed over to the Republic of China. They could probably build only 4 battleships with 9 guns. Who is more deterrent than 50 artillery pieces or 36 guns? I guess this question is clear at a glance! ”

"And in the course of the engagement, I think that 5 of our country's new dreadnoughts will also be more powerful than the 4 elite battleships produced by the Republic of China, after all, the opponent's firepower projection is only 70% of ours. Of course. Perhaps General Jericho may think that the latter is more superior, and this is a matter of opinion. They may be right on the battlefield, but even if the 4 balanced ships are more powerful, I still have plenty of reason to continue my plan. ”

"From my point of view, it is clearly more appropriate to have more ships and more firepower than to have a smaller number of ships and at the same time exchange firepower for defense. The strength of the fleet of the British Empire should be reflected in its size, not in its quality. Moreover, if we build warships according to a new plan. Then the period of construction of battleships will be shortened to 2 years, and in wartime we will have more ships in service than on the slipway. After shortening the cycle. We will be able to produce warships like an assembly line. And the opponent's well-crafted battleship may take 3 to 4 years. It will greatly surpass its opponents in terms of the speed and number of warships, so that the entire fleet will have an absolute advantage! Fisher described his strategic purpose in his diary.

(Historically, the construction period of the British George V-type super-dreadnoughts was less than 2 years, while the construction period of the German King-class battleships was as short as two years and nine months, and as long as three years and three months.) I have to say. The British did produce super-dreadnoughts much faster than the Germans. On the one hand, there is the problem of warships, and on the other hand, there is the problem of the capacity of warships. ）

You get what you pay for, and the British understand this saying. Even as the former commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Fisher wanted to have a powerful fleet of all excellent warships, something that any admiral could only dream of. From a tactical point of view, it is also optimal. Unfortunately, when Sir Fisher assumed the post of Lord of the Admiralty, he had to transfer himself from the position of Admiral to a maker of naval policy. Unfortunately, when Fisher sat on the throne of Chief Admiralty. The British have lost the ability to fight N in the past, and just one German navy makes him feel a lot of pressure!

As the head of the Navy. Fisher had to ensure that the British would have at least the advantage on the battlefield whenever the war broke out. That is, regardless of the actual situation, it is necessary to overwhelm the opponent in the number of ships and tonnage. Rely on the overall strength of the Grand Fleet to win the war. The Chinese have a saying that the soldiers surrender without a fight, and the British may not have similar words, but Fisher must have understood a similar meaning, in the eyes of the British, as long as the German navy does not go out of the North Sea and does not operate around Britain, then even if the German fleet cannot be destroyed? The idea of the existence of a fleet is worthless to the British! Just like the British against Napoleon's huge fleet, after the Battle of Trafalgar, the French navy was actually broken, and even if there was a large fleet, it would be useless not to dare to use this force!

In addition, in Fisher's view, if a single ship or a small fleet engaged, the quality of a single ship would indeed determine the outcome of the war, because there were too many accidental factors in a small sample event, and perhaps a single shell could determine the outcome of the battle. (For example, in history, Bismarck and Prince Eugen fought against Hood and George V, in fact, the strength of the German fleet was inferior to the other party, if it wasn't for the one-shot ammunition depot to ignite, I'm afraid it would be the Germans, and at the beginning, the Hood recognized the wrong target, and the Prince Eugen was mistaken for the Bismarck, which led to the lack of suppression of Bismarck, which was also one of the important reasons for the failure.) ）

But in a large-scale engagement, the impact of this accidental factor will be minimized, for example, a small fleet engagement, and the ammunition depot of a battleship is seconded by the opponent, resulting in the defeat of the battle, but in a large-scale engagement, you can't expect all the opponent's warships to be seconded, right? How many examples are there of cases where an ammunition depot sank because an artillery shell pierced it? Therefore, Fisher believes that relying on super projection to suppress the opponent, and then affect the opponent's output is the best way. Therefore, the shells of the British Navy are loaded with more explosives, that is, even if I can't penetrate you, I will destroy you with a high proportion of semi-armor-piercing shells! This is the strategy of a strong navy, they do not rely on super armor-piercing ability to win, but through the amount of projection to suppress the opponent, damage the opponent, and then rely on the speed of the ship to finally catch up with the laggard, and then gather and annihilate!

Moreover, after the number of fleets increased, it was also convenient to move, and if nothing else, the French Navy would definitely not be able to withstand the Italians and Austria-Hungary. The British Navy had to keep a detachment in the Mediterranean. And this situation also applies in the Indian Ocean. Britain also needed to leave a fast fleet in Mumbai or elsewhere in India to attack the fast battleships of Turkey and Germany, and if the number was small, the British fleet would not be enough at all, so even in terms of flexibility in mobilization, it was best to ensure quantity and then quality.

That's Fisher's overall idea. As soon as the economic conditions permitted, and when the satisfaction was ready to start, Fisher thought that his thinking was the most in line with the current situation in England! He built the largest fleet possible with as little money as possible, while getting the highest amount of firepower! And more importantly, because the construction period of the battleship is shortened, there will not be too many unfinished situations, which prevents the situation that the funds are comfortably placed on the slipway and cannot be converted into combat effectiveness. Regardless of when the war began, Fisher was able to organize a fleet that had always been strong to meet the challenge of the Germans. If none of these approaches lead to victory, Fisher doesn't think there's any other way to win.

In addition to strategic considerations, Fisher also had to take into account the production of the domestic shipbuilding industry, and in order for as many shipyards as possible to benefit from the Navy's construction plan, Fisher needed to cut a large piece of the pie into as small pieces as possible and distribute it to the shipyards. In order to prevent some shipyards from being held to death and some shipyards from being able to divide nothing, as a navy, Fisher naturally hopes that the more shipyards there are, the more fierce the competition, the better. So Fisher turned an order of about 2.4 million pounds into an order of about 2 million! In this way, the original order of 4 shipyards can be turned into 5 shipyards.

As for the numerical superiority, Fisher does not mind building some elite warships if military spending allows. Especially when you don't have to spend your own money. Jericho's partnership with Betty and others can't hide this old man who has been in the Royal Navy for decades. He knew that Jericho and Betty had opinions about their own decisions, and he also knew that his ideas were only based on inference, and whether they were useful or not depended on the test of actual combat. More importantly, the two warships started by the Republic of China were paid for by Australia and New Zealand, and since there are people who are willing to spend money, the British Royal Navy does not mind adding a few new balanced warships, so he also turned a blind eye to Jericho's actions. It's up to them.

Fisher knew that what he was doing so far was nothing more than a stopgap measure. He envisioned that when the British fleet could maintain a modest numerical superiority, Fisher agreed to build a number of perfect battleships that were excellent in all respects. The 13.5-inch cannon was still a little smaller in his opinion, so the technical advantage was not very great. If the naval gun can be raised to the 15-inch level, Fisher believes that this will be the limit of modern industry, that is, it will not be easily surpassed by the other side. At that time, the British Empire's new and perfect warships will be able to maintain their superiority for as long as possible.

The British's plan to carry ships with 15-inch guns was not groundless, and Fisher had already begun to plan related work. In a way, Fisher was indeed a visionary. Although there are many holes in his logic, there are some merits. But Fisher still knew that even so, the British Navy still had no advantage for a long time. I am not strong enough, the French develop the army, then it is time to completely let the little brother tap the potential!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward, and the book friend died is a civil ghost, lnwh's monthly ticket support ~~~. Yesterday's subscription was less than a third of the day before yesterday, and it fell directly to the lowest point of the month. The depression in my heart——! (To be continued......)