Compared with the astonishing investment of Germany and the United States in the naval field, the shipbuilding plans of the rest of the countries are undoubtedly dwarfed. Even Austria-Hungary, whose national strength on the European continent is second only to Germany, is only one-sixth of Germany's total economic output, and it is obvious that it cannot afford such a huge naval expenditure. As for the Red Soviet Union, which historically became the world's second largest industrial body after the end of the First Five-Year Plan, it has only barely reached the level of a third-rate industrial country, which is undoubtedly worse than Italy, the weakest of the European powers. In this plane, the only thing they inherited from the remains of Tsarist Russia was the western lands in the heart of Europe, and after the loss of Ukraine, it was difficult to even feed themselves; When the economic crisis broke out, a large number of American engineers who were originally interested in going to work in the Soviet Union were all preempted by Germany on more favorable terms. To this day, the Soviet Union is still a blank in high-end fields such as aircraft manufacturing, chemical synthesis, and large machinery and equipment, and its industrial system is not even as sound as that of the Don republics with German assistance!

Although Austria-Hungary was not as financially rich as the United States and Germany, its bloated bureaucracy greatly weakened the proportion of government appropriations that could be truly exploited by the navy; However, under the tireless impetus of the sea-loving Emperor Ferdinand V, the fleet under the command of Admiral Horti under the double crown still welcomed a new batch of soldiers after the end of the treaty. In August 1934, three heavy aircraft carriers with a standard displacement of 35,000 tons were laid at the shipyard in Trieste at the same time. Thanks to the overall technological output of Germany. The aircraft carrier is the same as the 24 fleet carriers in Germany's Plan Z: the thickness of its armored flight deck has been increased to 125 mm. The height of the double-storey hangar was further increased. The speed is still maintained at the standard 33 knots. When the aircraft carrier is at full speed on the sea, its deck wind will be faster than 30 knots, and the take-off distance of the fighter will be greatly reduced, thus further increasing the strength of the single-wheel attack wave.

Due to the fact that the three old battleships such as the United Forces were too old, the Austro-Hungarian Navy, in Germany, abandoned the idea of large-scale renovation and started construction of two new ships to replace them. In contrast to the German concept of low-speed, super-heavy ammunition on the new Bismarck-class battleships, Austria-Hungary was more fond of traditional drug guns: they further lengthened the German 430 mm to 47 times the diameter and exploited the potential to fire 1200 kg shells at 800 m/s. Under some changes. Not only did the standard displacement of the battleship exceed 40,000 tons, but the design speed also dropped back to 30 knots. Qingying did not bother to intervene in the wayward actions of the Austrians to maintain the traditional style; As long as they can expand the aircraft carrier field according to Germany's will, and the carrier-based aircraft also use the products of the German Navy, it is harmless for the battleships to be slightly inferior.

When the treaty ended, the Italians were eager to join the club of naval competition: they had been tied up by a pile of tatters by the French, and there had been a gap of 20 years in the construction of the capital ships, and it was time for them to restore their former honor! Just after the end of 1934, four brand-new Veneto-class battleships were laid within half a year, and because of this plane, the navies of all countries entered the 16-inch era early. The new design of the Italians is also a big leap from history. The standard displacement of this type of battleship is up to 48,000 tons, and the design speed is more than 30 knots. The vertical penetration depth of the 9 406-mm L50 guns produced by the Ansal Multi-Military Industry is extremely terrifying, even greater than the 430-mm naval guns of Austria-Hungary. In terms of protection, the ship's quilt cap design can also be described as amazing; In addition to the fact that its thin double deck is not as effective as a single large-thickness deck in anti-armor-piercing bombs, the ship's strength on the traditional battle line is undoubtedly much stronger than that of the British and American 16-inch guns carrying ships!

In view of the fact that Italy has begun to half-push and half-tilt towards Germany in the midst of the economic crisis, Qingying did not have too much secretion of this wall-to-wall grass. In the event of war, the Italian navy would also play a very important role in the strategy of the Allies, and even if it was not for the Italians, the British would have to think about Germany's own interests. In this context, the German Navy also provided the Italians with the design drawings of the Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers during a visit, hoping that the other side would use this as a basis for developing their own naval aviation.

Although the Italians were not interested in this kind of ship, believing that they were an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, under the pressure of Germany, which had an unusually heavy voice in this plane, they still used this as a model to start construction of three new 30,000-ton regular armored aircraft carriers. As its new prime minister, Benito Mussolini, mentioned in a speech, Italy cannot be satisfied with the blue of the Mediterranean forever, but should try to find its own territory beyond the sea. Seeing Mussolini so upright, Qingying suddenly felt that it was a right choice for him to support him; As long as its policy is aligned with Germany's strategic objectives, there is a natural basis for cooperation.

Halfway to the east, the expansion of the Japanese Navy began to be in full swing. Although Japan is far from being as powerful as it has historically been, and its national income and the output of major industrial products can even be surpassed by Italy, its military performance is beyond the reach of any other country. While the aftermath of the economic crisis was still raging in Japan, the military government in power was already discussing how to counter the expansion of the U.S. navy.

The new commander of the Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, is a staunch member of the aviation faction, claiming that air power is the trump card that will determine the victory of naval battles in the future, but the traditional power of artillery and giant ships in the navy is also deeply entrenched, and even refers to aircraft carriers and land forces as red deer. Eventually, the two factions took a step back in the war for military spending. The Air Force was able to start the construction of five regular aircraft carriers, namely Canglong, Feilong, Xianghe, Zuihe, and Dafeng, in a step-by-step manner, and carried out the work of converting a fast civilian ship originally built on the basis of warships into an aircraft carrier. Counting the three large aircraft carriers Fengxiang, Akagi, and Kaga that already existed during the treaty period, the future aviation combat power of the Combined Fleet will also be considerable.

The Battleship faction, on the other hand, received a budget for the construction of 3 heavy capital ships. Since Japan had the experience of trial-producing 480-mm guns in 1920 and had considerable experience in the development of large-caliber naval guns, the Ship Administration Headquarters set the tone for a non-treaty design from the very beginning. Eventually, Hiraga Jean's A-140 proposal was selected by the Navy in a comparison of more than a dozen designs, and construction began in secret at Kure Harbor. Due to the increase in the power of the battleships of various countries in this plane, the Japanese Yamato-class has also been strengthened considerably compared with history: its standard displacement is as high as 73,000 tons, the design speed is 27 knots, and it is equipped with nine 480 mm L45 guns. Looking at the Yamato-class battleship's single budget of up to 150 million yen, Yamamoto could only be speechless and silent: for Japan, which is weak in national strength, every penny it spends makes it worth it, but now, he can only watch this huge waste in front of his eyes, and he himself is completely powerless to stop it!

In the second half of 1935, Spain, located in the southwest of France, underwent remarkable changes. Due to the repeated tricks of the ruling Second Spanish Republic in the process of reform, which aroused the serious dissatisfaction of the landlords, the army, Catholics and other classes, and in the continuous fermentation of various contradictions in the country, it finally detonated a civil war under the planning of right-wing soldiers. On 18 September, Franco's army spearheaded a rebellion in southern Spain, with most of the Spanish Army and Air Force falling to the rebels; Two weeks later, Franco announced the establishment of the "National Defense Governing Council" in Burgos, officially kicking off the armed seizure of power.

Regarding the early arrival of Spain, Qingying was slightly surprised, and then quickly had her own considerations. For Germany, the current outbreak of the Spanish Civil War was undoubtedly a golden opportunity to take control of the Madrid regime and thus to uproot Gibraltar in the future. As long as he supported Franco in the civil war to succeed in seizing power and swept France in the future war, the grace of aid and the might of force were enough to make Franco, an opportunist, obediently compromise. After all, Germany today is much stronger than it was historically; With no longer a climate in the Soviet Union, Franco had no reason to refuse to board a German tank.

As early as before the outbreak of the civil war, Qingying had many contacts with the generals of the Nationalist Army out of consideration for opening up the Strait of Gibraltar; On the 9th and 26th, Franco's envoys came to Germany to ask for military aid. However, compared with the fledgling German army in history and urgently need to find a stage to try its skills, the current German army is unable to show its powerful national weapons in front of the world. In view of this, Qingying kicked the ball to the Italians, and asked Mussolini, who was also a right-wing nationalist, to send troops to support his Spanish comrades, and only to provide some weapons aid from the previous war. Compared to going into battle shirtless, this kind of proxy war can undoubtedly achieve maximum output with the least input.

In addition, there was another consideration for Qing Ying's choice to stay out of the matter, that is, to wait for the British and French forces to get involved in the Spanish Civil War, so as to provide an ideal excuse for Germany to start the European war again. (To be continued......)

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