In a minimally decorated room at the Admiralty in London, a faint fire is faint, and a delicate coffee pot hangs in mid-air over the fireplace, exuding a mellow smell of intoxication. In front of the desk not far away, a well-built old man was whispering in a pure British tone; And as his words continued, the old man sitting in the first place, with a strong spirit and a resolute face, his expression was already solemn and gloomy.

"Just one month after the launch of the battleship Silesia in March 1906, the German Navy held a ceremony for the launching of a new large capital ship named 'Blucher'. The ship, which had begun construction in 1904, was a far cry from the four German class they had built before: she had moved away from the slugg-like fat and stubby of the German battleships to become as slender and handsome as their crown prince. According to the visual observations of our intelligence officers at the site of the launching ceremony, her displacement will not be less than that of the German class, and may even reach a huge 18,000 tons; In other words, before the Belle Lophon-class is completed, she will be the largest naval warship on the planet. The chubby Second Sea Minister, Du Rui, said softly.

Fisher, with a straight face, stared at the thick coffee in front of him, his eyes were complicated, and he was silent.

Dury's face was bitter, and he continued: "And the information released by the German Navy later further confirmed our vague speculation about this new capital ship. Three Parsons steam turbines replaced the reciprocating old ones on the battleships, and four twin 11-inch L47 guns of the same model as the Deutsche class were mounted on her slender frame...... Steam turbine power, the same full heavy artillery firepower as the battleship's main gun. John. It's no different from your idea of a perfect cruiser. Even they're almost exactly the same length! The difference is that the Germans laid the keel of this class of battleships the year before last, and this year, we still regard the Invincible class as the only ultimate weapon in the world, and implement strict secrecy to avoid the slightest leakage of information. ”

The corners of Fisher's mouth moved slightly, and he slowly spoke: "The only thing to be thankful for is that the main guns of this class of German battleships are arranged on the full central axis of the front 1 in 1 and 2 in the rear, so the front and rear forward firepower of the battleship is extremely weak, and the main turret of the amidships will also occupy a lot of valuable space that originally belonged to the boiler room." That's it. Her maximum speed was only 23 knots, and her bow guns had only 2 guns, which greatly reduced her hunting efficiency against cruisers. The Teutonic pirate with the strange beard still didn't seem to understand the essence of this all-heavy artillery perfect cruiser hunting the attacker; Although his ship was built two years before we did, he still had the idea of a final battle, hoping that his perfect cat would join in the decisive battle and make up for the lack of numbers in the German navy. ”

Dury said in a deep voice, "But John, we are already far behind the Germans in terms of the number of dreadnoughts. This time, the Germans, armed with 8 11-inch guns, were also built in batches like the German class; The three great ships built between 1904 and 1905, Blucher, Balfoss, and Moritz have all been launched, and this year the construction of the fourth is an improved version. ”

"By the end of the year. The number of fully heavy artillery warships that had been completed and was under construction in Germany had reached 12: this year they had suddenly accelerated the pace of construction, with the exception of the improved cruiser. Four new battleships have also been started, and they will form a new squadron of battleships with the previous four Deutsche class. And the Royal Navy currently has only 7 all-heavy artillery warships under construction! Although your annual plan for building ships of unprecedented scale has been approved, only 3 Bellerophon-class and 3 Invincible-class warships have actually started construction this year; The remaining three Bellerophon ships will have to be postponed until next year due to the lack of funds to finance their construction, which will cost more than £5 million. Dury's face was solemn, and his words were full of anxiety about reality and worry about the future, "And when it comes to next year, God knows what crazy plan the group of madmen on the other side of the strait will come up with?" ”

Fisher clenched his fists and was silent. As a reformer of the Royal Navy, who was deeply relied on by Edward VII and the direct leader of the birth of the all-heavy main gun giant, he knew all too well the overwhelming superiority of this warship equipped with a uniform type of large-caliber main gun over traditional ships. The same battleship's more than 8 main guns, under the guidance of excellent fire control, will be a geometric multiple improvement over the traditional battleship equipped with 4 main guns, both in terms of engagement distance and hits. In terms of gunnery alone, the Dreadnought, with 8 main guns on the broadside, has a higher hit rate than the 12 guns on the 3 ordinary Dreadnoughts; What's more, the dreadnought also has a lot of advantages in speed and protection, and its final combat effectiveness has formed an absolute crushing effect on ordinary dreadnoughts!

His original vision was to create an epoch-making weapon called the dreadnought to stabilize the Royal Navy's shrinking maritime strategy and restore it to the absolute control of the seas that it had had been half a century ago. However, the end result was the opposite. In the face of the large number of all-heavy gunboats built by Germany, the entire 50 former dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy, which had been painstakingly accumulated over fifteen years and at great expense, were swept into the garbage heap; It's just that Britain is still inferior in the number of dreadnoughts, which means that the German Navy has been transformed into a top presence that is to some extent more powerful than the British Navy! This is an absolutely unacceptable situation for Britain, a world empire that has dominated the seas for more than 300 years!

"I never imagined that a wave of innovation in naval technology would directly overwhelm the centuries of British accumulation. In a sense, Germany was the initiator of this naval revolution, and all we had done so far was to avoid being subverted by this epoch-making weapon, which had lasted for more than 300 years. The head of the Koschen octopus, who was once despised and disdained by us, is now truly ahead of the Royal Navy. Fisher's voice was deep and silent, like the neighing of a night owl in the night, "There is no doubt that the British Empire is facing the greatest maritime threat since the Napoleonic Wars because of this all-heavy artillery wave triggered by Germany." And what we have to do is to crush all the enemies in front of us with absolute strength! ”

Durry's eyes froze when he heard this, and he who had worked with Fisher for many years immediately understood the true intentions of the person in front of him. He nodded slightly, and said, "If this is the case, then the Royal Navy and Great Britain will be very happy." But John, I'm still afraid that Sir Banner Man will object. Despite the trust placed in you by His Majesty, the core members of the Liberal Party, who have been advocating for the reduction of naval spending and seeking to balance the government's budget, are disgusted by the series of tosses you have made since becoming First Sea Lord, and they would not have had the attitude towards you today if it were not for the fact that you sent a large number of old ships to the scrap iron mills and smelting furnaces. ”

"Charles, you should understand that the situation is no longer whether they are willing to accept our request or not, but that they must and can only do so." Fisher said lightly, but there was an indisputable conclusive meaning in his words, "In fact, whether Sir Bannerman sits at the official residence at 10 Downing Street, or the two-wheeled driver who sells coolies on the streets, there is an innate desire for sea power in the heart of every Britishman, and a strong attachment to holding it firmly in his hands. Because the ocean is our foundation, Britain will completely degenerate into a second-rate country without it! The reason why Sir Bannerman agreed to my huge annual budget for the construction of nine capital ships more than half a year ago, and completely set aside the task of balancing the budget, was precisely because I had made the stakes completely clear to him. In the face of tremendous external pressure, the role of the British Empire is definitely not that of a stupid miser who holds the pound in his arms and refuses to buy weapons, and is defeated by foreign enemies at the end and then takes away all his wealth! ”

"As soon as we draw up a State of the Union address on the Anglo-German navy, detailing the abrupt change in the balance of power between the two sides, there will be a strong wave of calls for an increase in the strength of the Royal Navy fleet in the press and in the broadcast. In fact, we don't even need to fabricate the facts, and the current embarrassing 7-12 ratio between the two sides is already an excellent incentive for the public to exert pressure on the government. Durry snorted, but the worry on his face did not dissipate. In fact, he was not a pure soldier, and his political and economic considerations often made him not as confident about the future of the Royal Navy as Fisher.

Since the navy entered the era of ironclad steam, the key to determining the strength of the navy is no longer the number of forests, but steel and gold. At present, Britain's industrial and economic aggregate is desperately surpassed by Germany, whose overseas merchant ships are less than one-tenth of their tonnage, and Britain is undoubtedly far inferior to this potential enemy in terms of development stamina and speed of progress. As long as Germany maintains the rate of building 4 to 5 new capital ships per year, it will be a near-insoluble situation for the British Navy; Because with Britain's financial resources, it is absolutely impossible to maintain any strength scale with the top powers like Germany! (To be continued......)