Austria-Hungary is located in the southern part of Central Europe, bordered on all sides by powerful neighbors: to the north is the mighty Prussia, which fought them bloodied in the Seven Years' War; Italy, one of the great powers in the West, has always been attached to the Austro-Hungarian foothills of the Alps, intent on retaking them. To the south are the powder keg Balkan states and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, both of which have complex historical entanglements with Austria-Hungary; To the east, the fearsome Russian steamrollers were the millions of Cossacks who were not afraid to die to become a haunting nightmare for any European nation. In addition, France was also a factor that could not be ignored, although they did not border Austria-Hungary, but the situation when Napoleon swept across the continent and forced Austria to sign an alliance under the city was still like a sword of Damoris hanging over their heads, and the Habsburg monarchs were not alarmed.

In this international situation, Austria-Hungary naturally became an absolute land state; And almost none of the external conditions necessary for the development of their navy are in possession.

In trade, Austria-Hungary relied on the European landmass, and maritime trade was neither necessary nor of interest to them. In the colonies, compared to Germany, which barely caught the last train to carve up the overseas colonies, Austria-Hungary did not even have a single hair overseas, and there was no need for any warships to carry out overseas cruises. Geographically, the situation of the Austro-Hungarian Navy was even more tragic. Their range of activity is limited to the Adriatic Sea, a narrow body of water with an area of only 130,000 square kilometers, and to get out of it, they must pass through the Strait of Otranto, which is only 67 kilometers at its narrowest point. And even if the Austro-Hungarian Navy came out of the Adriatic bath, it could only operate in the Mediterranean, an inland lake. The Suez Canal to the south and the Strait of Gibraltar to the west were both under British control. Compared with. The geography of the German Navy was undoubtedly much better than that of Austria-Hungary.

But even so. Ferdinand remained absolutely supportive of the development of the navy. Under his strong push, the Austro-Hungarian navy ushered in a rapid increase in strength: from 1891 to 1904, they built a total of 12 capital warships with a total tonnage of 91,500 tons. Considering its own land rights and the high price of high-end industrial products in second-rate industrial countries, this can be regarded as a fairly abundant capital investment. It is precisely because of this that Qing Ying came up with the idea of recasting the Austro-Hungarian navy, and improved the Austro-Hungarian warships that were forced to combine battleships and armored cruisers due to budget constraints.

"To be able to see such a profound level shows the wisdom and wisdom of His Highness the Grand Duke." Qingying, as usual, was another ceremonial praise. However, there were already some heartfelt praises in the words, "The reason why Britain was crowned as the sun never set, and why France was able to recover quickly after the Franco-Prussian War, was due to the maritime trade and the economic plunder of the colonies, which were backed by the fleet." Therefore, Germany has also adopted a national strategy of rapid development of its navy in order to guarantee our legitimate interests in overseas trade. ”

"Perhaps His Highness the Grand Duke has learned that the British had launched a battleship HMS Intrepid with 10 305-mm guns two months ago; A few weeks later, Germany also held a launching ceremony for the Silesia, which was equipped with 10 283-mm guns. According to what we and the British have come to together, this giant battleship with full heavy artillery will dominate future wars at sea. As your country's closest ally, Germany will provide you with a new set of blueprints for the best battleships. I wonder if His Royal Highness is interested? Qingying stared into Ferdinand's eyes and whispered in slow but clear words.

Ferdinand's body shook slightly. A look of surprise and excitement flooded his face. Although he did not have a naval education, he established good personal relations with the top naval officials such as Count Montekukoli through his strong support for naval construction; After many years of listening to it, Ferdinand also had a general understanding of this field. For a second- or third-rate navy like Austria-Hungary, which is a toddler and has difficulty in a steady injection of large amounts of capital, a superior warship design is enough to greatly enhance their naval strength; The all-heavy artillery warships launched by Britain and Germany in less than a month are undoubtedly the most eye-catching rising stars in the naval circles at present. Although the Austro-Hungarian naval community was still hesitant between the new warships of Britain and Germany, which were equipped with all large-caliber guns, and the traditional warships of the Great Powers, which were equipped with secondary guns and took the road of projection, the idea that the conservatives advocated that "the Imperial Navy could not afford to pay the tuition" still seemed to prevail in the debate; But this design drawing from Germany will certainly provide a valuable opportunity for Austro-Hungarian designers to improve their design skills, which will be of great help in the future design of new ships.

Seeing that Qingying was actually ready to give Austria-Hungary a copy of the latest warship design, Rao was Ferdinand, who had been the No. 2 person in the Austro-Hungarian Empire for nearly 17 years and had already experienced a hundred battles, and at this moment he couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart. He drew a cross on his chest and said softly: "Holy Son, Vienna will be forever grateful for the selfless and sincere generosity of its friends in Berlin." In the future, if your country is in need, we will do our best to repay it. ”

Qingying clapped his hands, and a palace attendant stepped forward respectfully, holding a simple and elegant long brocade box in his hand. In Ferdinand's expectant gaze, Qingying slowly unfolded a thick scroll of characteristic drawings and hung them in front of the beige gilt wall. The crystal lamp shone brightly and projected onto it. The clear lines of black and gray outline a handsome and majestic blueprint of a giant ship on the white scroll; The strong sense of déjà vu brought by its 1:50 ratio shocked the eyes of the Grand Duke, and it could already make him calmly reverie the majestic and heroic appearance after it was really built.

"Your Royal Highness, this is a brand new battleship that my German Imperial designers have built for your country, and we have even given her a very Habsburg name, Radetz. With the exception of two steam turbines from the United States, all of the subsystems she uses are based on the current state of the art in your country and are fully achievable in the future. Your designers can even throw it directly to the Trieste shipyard (STT, the most important shipbuilding base in Austria-Hungary, where more than 80 percent of the warships were built) without even changing it at all, and let it start construction. Qing Ying took the opportunity to steal the name of the Austro-Hungarian Raddec-class ship in history, which can be regarded as making up for the shortcomings of the last generation of dreadnoughts of that class of mixed main guns.

"The British Dreadnought, launched two months ago, set a new basis for judging the performance of the battleships built afterward, that is, 10 305mm cannons and a speed of up to 21 knots; And the performance indicators of this German warship designed for your country are based on this benchmark. As His Royal Highness could see, it was equipped with three triple 305 mm L45 guns along the central axis in the shape of a long bow with a high front and low rear: the two main turrets in the rear had a superior firing range of more than 270 degrees, and all guns could carry out devastating bombardment of targets on the same side. Although it had one fewer main gun than the Dreadnought, the Dreadnought's turret layout meant that it had only eight guns on one side, so the broadside firepower of this design was better than that of the British Dreadnought. At some point, a long baton appeared in Qingying's hand, and he was pointing to the three majestic giant turrets on the drawing, and explained briefly to Ferdinand with a smile.

"In terms of power, since your country's crude oil production is far richer than that of our Germany, all the 12 boilers equipped with this class of warships are kerosene mixed combustion boilers with a heavy oil proportion of 30%; While reducing its weight, it also increased its speed to the same 21 knots as the Intrepid, and was capable of cruising at a high speed of 2,500 nautical miles at 14 knots. Qingying said. He had absolute confidence in the actual credibility of this drawing battleship.

As a heavy industry power with the strongest heavy artillery force in the world, Austria-Hungary Skoda military industry has extremely high attainments in the field of heavy artillery, even surpassing the world-renowned German Krupp. On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian battleships of the Radetz-class battleships, which began construction in 1907, were equipped with a 305-millimeter gun with a diameter of 45 times: the shell weighed 450 kg and reached a muzzle velocity of 800 m/s, which was extremely powerful. If we take into account the hard cap armor-piercing shells used by Austria-Hungary, their comprehensive performance will far surpass that of British artillery of the same caliber. Therefore, it was not at all difficult for Skoda to develop a 305 mm L45 naval gun. As for the question of the triple turret, as long as these industrial powers are interested in developing it, then it is not an obstacle for them at all; What's more, the historical Austro-Hungarian was one of the first great powers to apply this layout, only 1 year later than Great Italy!

Faced with Qingying's slightly professional narration, Ferdinand was slightly embarrassed; His knowledge of the navy was limited to a superficial understanding, and his daily work was only to provide funds for the development of the navy as much as possible, and he did not have the same deep skills as a veteran enthusiast like Kaiser Wilhelm and a BB party time-traveler like Qingying. However, this is not difficult to defeat the battle-hardened Grand Duke. The corners of his mouth curled up and he smiled, "This is really a perfect battleship. Your Highness, General House of Trieste has a great interest in this new all-heavy artillery battleship, and you can stop by on your way to your next stop, Rome. (To be continued......)