Chapter 649: Fireline Support
Since it is not possible to directly participate in the war, it is an inevitable choice to immediately supply the Russians with weapons, and of course, this choice is also extremely risky. It is true that the Republic of China cannot exert too much influence on Europe, but in Southeast Asia, the existing strength of Britain and France is not enough for China to fight. It's not that the Far East Fleet of the French and British is not strong enough, but that the Indian side is next to China, and China doesn't need a navy at all. So it's a bit risky. Even if they don't do it, simple economic sanctions will definitely give Britain and France, which have lost the huge market of China, a headache.
If it was possible to sell the warships to the Russians, and at the same time to minimize the hostility of the Western Republic of China towards Britain and France. This became the thinking of Britain and France. As for selling those warships, Britain and France have long thought about it, the British fleet will definitely not be able to move, and the current British are singing white faces, and after the two sides are finished fighting, the British will also act as mediators to let China and Russia sit together and negotiate, so this face must not be torn. Another reason is that in the future strategic layout, the French and Russians are responsible for confronting Germany, Austria and Italy on land, while the British are responsible for suppressing the opponent's navy at sea.
The British can't, Germany, Austria and Italy can't do it, and the Americans' "proposal" was rejected by Britain and France, so the only option is France! Although the French had already focused on the army, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse. It's still okay to get together a ship or two and sell it to the Russians. And now there are a few ships in France that look bad and are ready to be disposed of! And France did not react very coldly to the Chinese Republic. Because the French also sold a small boat to the Russians in the last Sino-Russian war, the French also said that they could sell it to the Russians if the conditions were right.
After the last Sino-Russian war, the British and French knew that selling small boats to the Russians was an increase. Battleships of the armored cruiser class were all cannon fodder class in the war 5 years ago. Until now. Even if a 10,000-ton armored cruiser like the Bayan-class meets the capital ship, it is still a food delivery, no, not long ago, didn't the Longtai battle group of the Huaxia Navy just "by the way" pack up the two Bayan-class armored cruisers of the Russians?
Therefore, the ships that Britain and France intended to give to the Russians were definitely capital ships, and they were of a better kind. But the French themselves are a little disdainful, and they plan to exchange the funds returned. Remember the Danton-class battleships of the French "one class and two types"? It is the east and east of the 6 second-level main gun turrets on the side chord that are ready to be replaced by single-mounted main guns at any time. And the French are going to dispose of two of these dreadnoughts!
OVERALL, DANDONG IS STILL GOOD, THE HEIGHT OF THE MAIN INSTALLATION WITH A THICKNESS OF 280MM IS STILL ENOUGH, AND THERE IS A 150MM ARMOR BELT AT THE END OF THE NOSE. WHILE THE UPPER PART WAS NERFED TO 50MM. Purely only shrapnel. THE THICKNESS OF THE MAIN GUN TURRET AND TURRET IS 300MM. THE TURRET OF THE SECOND MAIN GUN IS SLIGHTLY THINNER, AT 229MM. Armed with 10 12-inch guns. But the side chord could concentrate only 7 main guns. AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE UP TO 16 76MM GUNS. The maximum output is 23,000 hp and the maximum speed is 20 knots. The normal tonnage is about 18,000 tons. When fully loaded, it is 19,000 tons. The biggest problem of this battleship after it was "promoted" to Dreadnought was the lack of medium-caliber secondary guns.
This can't be blamed on Dandong's designers, who originally designed according to the former intrepid design. AS UP AS UP TO 240MM THE SECONDARY MAIN GUN ORIGINALLY TOOK INTO ACCOUNT THE FUNCTION OF A MEDIUM-CALIBER SECONDARY GUN, WHICH WAS USED TO DEAL WITH LARGE ARMORED CRUISERS AND SMALL TORPEDO CRUISERS. THE REMAINING 75MM GUNS WERE USED AGAINST TORPEDO BOATS. This combination is actually quite in line with the principle of fearless combat. But now that the French upgraded it to "Dreadnought", all the secondary guns became single-mounted. As a result, there is a gap in the fire. Of course, if you want to use the main gun to knock the opponent's battleship, you can do that. However, while the battle line was firing at the opponent's capital ship, the opponent came to the enemy with several battleships that released torpedoes. will put Dandong in a more embarrassing situation.
At the same time that Britain and France finalized the "naval assistance plan" for Russia. Makanov also sent a telegram to the desk of Nicholas II with an increase in warships. And at this time, relative to the army, the Russian navy has really reached the point of running out of oil! Except for the Black Sea Fleet, which can be transported to the Baltic Sea by rail and then sent to the Far East, Russia can no longer spare even a single capital ship to support the war situation in the Far East, and the Russian Baltic Fleet has been completely evacuated. Not only warships, but even spare supplies are not much left. In order to replenish the nearly 2,000 officers and men needed to occupy these two ships, the Russians also had to empty the remaining combat personnel of his Black Sea Fleet, which would take nearly a month to complete the acceptance of the ships.
But with a new warship means a new hope. The Russian Navy, having acquired two Dreadnought Danton, would have completely gained overwhelming superiority in the main fleet. At least from the point of view of the Russian Admiralty, as long as Makanov waits slowly until the new warships are in place, he can gain a strategic advantage over the Chinese Navy, after all, 8 capital ships. 6 of them are dreadnought, and it should be a great advantage to fight the opponent's 4 dreadnoughts and 3 quasi-dreadnoughts. And in terms of fast warships. At least the Russians are not at a disadvantage, although the fleet that can go to the battlefield on the front line is much less than that of the Huaxia, but as long as the correction of the heavily damaged fleet is completed, the fast fleet will at least have a tie with the Huaxia side, although the dreadnoughts will suffer, but the armored cruiser side will not have a problem throwing off the Huaxia Navy.
The Russians were dreaming of a great victory in the naval battle while painfully raising nearly £4 million in related expenses. At this time, Russia's finances were on the verge of exhaustion. Both the Navy and the Army crossed an Asian region to play against each other. The most expensive is not the battlefield, but the transport line! Needless to say, sea transport. Until now, some sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway are improvised railways! Transport capacity is very limited. As a result, a pile of supplies was piled up at the station, and then the two low-power locomotives in front of them slowly pulled a little bit of supplies to transport them to the front line!
And at this time, the French, with the attitude of allies, "persuaded" the Russians if they could focus on naval warfare. And said that France could persuade the British to let the Russian and Dutch transports flying the flags of other countries use the British and French bases in the Indian Ocean. As for the aid the Russians asked for in the army, the French delayed on the grounds of "supply" difficulties, and even though the Russians said that they could continue to buy at a cheating price, the French were unmoved. 1What was the best thing in France before the war? One of the most fierce creditor countries in the world, the most important thing is money. What is the loss of banknotes in strategic interests?
If the news of France's sale of warships to the Russians is kept secret, then the Russian navy, which suddenly has two more dreadnoughts, will certainly have a great impact on China's maritime strategy. But as the saying goes, there is never an impermeable wall in the world, and the large flow of millions of pounds could not hide from Galene, who was sitting in London at this time. As one of the top financiers of his generation, and as a man with a deep hatred of Russia, he watched every move in the Russian economy, and the flow of up to 4 million pounds could not escape her eyes. Soon after learning the news, an encrypted telegram was delivered to Beijing.
At the same time, a large number of photographs of Russians appearing in the French military port were also sent to the Chinese embassy in France, and the arrival of thousands of Russian naval personnel could not be leaked. In addition, France did not deliberately conceal this matter, and even when the West China ambassador to France asked the French government about its attitude, the French vaguely admitted the sale of warships to Russia, and at the same time said that they could buy a part of the national bonds of the Huaxia Republic as compensation.
This kind of behavior of the French is definitely unusual in the eyes of the vast majority of people. But when the relevant information was sent to Xu Jie's table, Xu Jie smiled and threw it aside. Because he knew that in his plane, the French were lending money to the Russians and building the battleship Prince for the Russians, and the armored cruiser Azuma for the Japanese. In this plane, although the French did go too far to provide dreadnoughts for Russia during the war, as compensation, Britain and France ate a large number of war bonds of the Chinese Republic at the same time.
Britain and France helped Russia in order to secure their dominance in Southeast Asia, but at the same time acquiesced in China's dominance over the Far East. And in a note sent by the French ambassador to China, the French once again expressed "concern" about the problems of Southeast Asia and hinted that the French would reduce their assistance to the Russian army. In the original text, the French expressed that Russia should exist as a "European country". The Far East, which is too vast, is not in the interests of Russia and its allies! This is the rhythm of selling teammates properly, I don't know what the Russians will think if they know about it?
Although Xu Jie was very dissatisfied with France's provision of warships for Russia in wartime, after receiving the corresponding compensation, Xu Jie also gave up the plan to retaliate against French products during the war. And now Xu Jie is most worried about how to deal with the Russian fleet after its strength has been strengthened? If he waited until the Russians' 2 Dandong-class battleships were in place before the decisive battle, Xu Jie could not guarantee that his main fleet would be able to fight 8 Dreadnoughts and 2 quasi-Dreadnoughts! There are only 4 dreadnoughts and 3 quasi-dreadnoughts here in Huaxia!
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