To be honest, Xu Jie's evaluation of Betty is still a little lower, maybe Betty is not as good as Jericho, but how can Betty, who can finally succeed Jericho and sit on the throne of the commander of the Grand Fleet, give it for nothing? And at this time. Betty is in her office thinking about the problems that the British Empire Grand Fleet will face in the future and what kind of warships she needs, two questions of life and death.

The naval superiority of the British Empire in the present situation is too small, which is not to say that the number of warships with Germany is scarce compared to Britain, but to say that in overall comparison, the Entente side does not have an advantage! Historically, up to July 1914, Britain had a total of 29 dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts. Among them, there were 9 battlecruisers and 20 battleships. The German Navy had a total of 17 dreadnoughts, including 4 battlecruisers and 13 battleships. In terms of numbers, the German navy is sixty percent of the number of the British navy, but in terms of combat effectiveness, I am afraid it is a little more than six percent. It's not even impossible to reach the so-called "seventy-percent theory" in the book.

That is, in peacetime, the pace of German military expansion was not slow. The Germans had built it to the equivalent of 7 percent of the requirements of the British Navy. The fundamental reason why Germany was only half as powerful as Britain in the Battle of Jutland was that under wartime conditions, Germany had to reduce its naval spending in order to maintain its army. And the British are continuing to thrive! The German Navy's later 4 Mackensen-class battleships and 2 Bavarian follow-up ships were started but not completed. The British, on the other hand, completed the Super Ships of the Queen and R-Class during the war. As a result, the Germans had no chance of winning in the decisive battle, which dragged on for 2 years.

If the German Navy could have taken the initiative in the event of a war. Although there is no guarantee that the British Navy will be defeated, it will at least make the other side more uncomfortable. If you have some luck yourself. No matter how unlucky the other party is, it is not impossible to win a game. This, of course, involved the conservatism of Wilhelm II. And now on this plane, according to Betty's speculation. In the event of a war in the future, the British Navy may have even less advantage than in history!

According to current intelligence, in the next 5 years, Germany can complete at least 10 or so capital ships, and the final result may be 12 dreadnought battleships and super-dreadnought battleships after counting the battleships already in service. As well as 4 fast battleships. According to Betty's estimates, the number of warships in the British Royal Navy in five years may be about 24. That is to say, in 1912, the British Navy had 24 warships against the opponent's 16 warships, and the opponent's number of warships was two-thirds of its own. As for combat effectiveness? By comparing the Longtai-class fast battleship with the Longxu. Betty had to say that the opponent's combat strength could exceed 7% of the British Grand Fleet. And that's not even the worst. If you count the Allied forces in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, the superiority of the British Grand Fleet may be lost.

The French were very obedient and devoted most of their resources to the development of the army, since the construction of the Danton-class dreadnoughts. The French dreadnought plan has been wavering. So far, there are no concrete plans to start construction of new ships. If the construction period of about 3 years for a battleship is followed, it is possible that France will complete about 4 warships of the first class by 1912 at most. And what about the enemies of France? Italy already has 3 excellent Dragon-class battleships, and in the future, construction will start on 4 new super dreadnoughts! And the Austro-Hungarian 4 imitation Longxing-class battleships are also ready to start construction. If this is the case, by 1912 the other side will have 11 dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts in the Mediterranean against the 4 dreadnoughts of the French Navy and several Danton-class battleships! This advantage is almost crushing!

In order to ensure the balance of power in the Mediterranean, the British had to allocate at least one detachment to support the French, so that the ratio of the British navy to the opposing side would be reduced to 20 to 16! There are almost no advantages left! And if you count the Indian Ocean, God, I'm afraid that the British Empire will lose its absolute superiority at sea for nearly a hundred years. Because in the Indian Ocean there is also a combined fleet of the German Far Eastern Fleet and the Turks, they will have about 3 super-dreadnoughts. And these super dreadnoughts are also steel behemoths built by the Huaxia Navy! So the math goes. The British and French navies have no advantage over the navies of Germany, Italy, Austria and Turkey!

As for the Russian Navy? Betty doesn't look down on this poor friend on the Eastern Front, the command level of Makanov and Essen Betty is still certain, but just after a blow that can be called the annihilation of the whole army, and the loss of a large number of personnel and equipment, it is really impossible to say what role these two fleets that can only nest in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea can play, the geographical environment is too bad, and the Russian Navy blocked in the closed sea has little impact on the overall situation. As for the battleship replenishment plan? Betty does not believe that Russia will develop its navy vigorously under the current economic conditions.

This is just the situation that the Grand Fleet encounters, and if you narrow it down and focus on the Fast Fleet that Betty is about to take over, then the situation will get even worse! In his known plans, by 1912 he would have 8 fast battleships in his hands, and the Germans would have 4, and it seemed that he had the upper hand, but let's not forget that in the distant Indian Ocean, as well as the Turkish and German Far Eastern fleets, they still had 3 or 4 fast battleships in their hands! In this way, the number is directly leveled!

More importantly, Betty carefully analyzed the Longxu-class battlecruisers and the British Navy's new battlecruiser scheme compared to the German battlecruisers. Betty can be sure that her battleship may have an advantage in speed, but if she dies, she will definitely not be able to beat her opponent! The reason is very simple, the technical level of both sides is almost at the same level, but the tonnage of Germany's fast battleships is larger than its own, and the range requirements are not high, coupled with the relatively slow speed, a lot of weight is left to strengthen protection and firepower, how can it be possible to win if it is a dead fight? Historically, the British tiger and lion also had a caliber advantage, and this plane didn't even have this advantage! Of course, Betty didn't know that there was a problem with the British shells at this time!

Betty carefully compared the performance of the fast warships of both sides in the Second Sino-Russian War. The Longtai is definitely the strongest in terms of comprehensiveness, with the strongest firepower, the strongest protection and moderate speed, allowing this class of battleships to flexibly complete various tasks from tactical reconnaissance to blocking the opponent's main fleet! It has a certain amount of maneuverability, which is faster than the capital ship, and at the same time can fight and resist. This is the masterpiece of the Chinese Navy, and it is also the design idea that the Chinese Navy has always continued. The Dutch's seven provinces are similar to Longtai, but they are worse in all aspects.

As for the Longxu-class battlecruisers and the Peter the Great-class fast battleships of the Russians? Because of the thick dome armor, the defense of the Longxu-class is actually no worse than that of the Peter the Great-class, plus 2 more main guns, and it has the highest speed, so the comprehensive performance of the Longxu-class battlecruisers is higher than that of the Peter the Great class. However, on the whole, the performance of the Longxu-class battlecruiser is far inferior to that of Longtai, and its speed advantage may not be so great!

And the most important thing is that in this pond in the North Sea, there is simply not so much room for maneuvering guerrillas. When the two sides meet, it is a decisive battle, either you die or I live. And even if you really want to run, there are light cruisers and destroyers who release smoke screens and torpedo cover, so the speed is not very useful. As for the Indian Ocean, the two sides really have to go around in circles, and the superiority of British forces will be diluted by the vast ocean. If a Longxu relied on its speed advantage to catch up with a Longtai-class fast battleship, what could he do? Is it to "escort" people back? Or do you want to sink your home? As for finding teammates? Don't be funny, let's not talk about whether the radio communication distance on the battleship is enough, as long as people are at night, they can evacuate under the cover of night. There is no way around it.

After many simulations and deductions, Betty found herself facing a dire situation, as the Rapid Fleet would be assigned to two battlefields after the battle. (You can't send slow battleships to the Indian Ocean, can you?) It's okay to say in the North Sea, behind you is the Grand Fleet. But what about going to the Indian Ocean? There are very few capital ships in the Indian Ocean, and they almost belong to the kind of single-ship PK fighting alone. The performance of the battleship itself will be absolutely victorious or defeated, if there is no quantitative advantage, quality will naturally determine everything, and then think that he may have to face Count Spee, one of the few admirals in Europe who has participated in actual combat, Betty is a little weak.

In the most crucial battle of the Second Sino-Russian War, Count Spee and his Scharnhorst played perfectly, though not so much as the Germans themselves say, that no Count Spee's history would be rewritten. But Betty was sure that if there was no Scharnhorst, the Huaxia decoy fleet would most likely be eaten by Essen before the main force arrived, not to mention that at least three Ninghai-class battleships and the officers and men on them would be removed from the navy forever!

Calm thinking, strong will, never discouraged but not flinch in the predicament, know what to do and how to deal with it! This is what Jericho, the general who also participated in a big battle, said to Count Spee. In the battle with the fleet in Essen, even if he was beaten by the mighty battleships of the Seven Provinces and abandoned his armor, for the safety of the entire fleet, Count Spee did not give the order to leave the fleet, because once the Scharnhorst left, it would mean the collapse of the fleet. However, in the last battle, as the side that was sure to win, Count Spee ordered the ships to avoid and delay as much time as possible, so as to achieve victory with the least casualties. Although the approaches are very different, they are all about exchanging the smallest losses for the biggest wins.

And in the face of such an enemy, there are also Scheer and Hipper, who were once comrades-in-arms with Jericho (the three of them fought together in the Spanish-American War. Betty thinks that her fleet must at least not have much of a disadvantage in performance to fight. The British Empire no longer had a numerical superiority, and if it did not have a qualitative superiority, how could Britain win against an equally well-trained and tactically superior opponent?

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward and the book friend athlon 9527 for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)