Trieste is located in the southwest of Austria-Hungary, bordering the Adriatic Sea, with a long history and cultural deposits. As a port city open to the rest of the world, Trieste has evolved into a busy, cosmopolitan metropolis as Austria-Hungary continues to grow, ranking fourth among Austria-Hungary cities, behind Vienna, Budapest and Prague. The Austro-Hungarian Southern Railway to Vienna connected the coastal port of Trieste with the center of the Empire; The throughput and import of a large number of commodities and goods has become the strongest driving force for the economy and trade of Austria-Hungary.

And the value of Trieste is not only reflected in the economic field.

Due to its geographical location deep into the Adriatic Sea and the unique conditions of the deep port, Trieste also entered the attention of the Habsburg military when it enjoyed prosperity in handling goods. In 1854, Archduke Maximilian, the brother of Emperor Franz, became commander-in-chief of the navy, and under his fanatical work, Trieste was established as a naval base and a base for the Austrian fleet to enter the sea. In the following years, the Austro-Hungarian navy gradually developed on this basis, and became a powerful presence in the Mediterranean that cannot be ignored; During the First World War, the reason why the combined Franco-Italian fleet, which had absolute superiority, did not fully control the Adriatic Sea was precisely because the powerful Austro-Hungarian navy under the command of Admiral House was entrenched in Trieste.

When Qingying arrived in Trieste, what he saw was a magnificent scene of bustling and busy. Viennese-style buildings are dotted with a strong artistic touch. Under the bright sun, the waves swayed gently. Sparkling; A large number of combat ships are somewhat similar to those of the German Navy. It is neatly docked in a predetermined berth in the military port not far away. on a towering mast. The Austro-Hungarian naval flags, red and white, and adorned with crowns, danced in the wind, showing their unique style to the world.

In the meeting two days ago, Qing Ying, who had traveled to this world for more than ten years, also heard Ferdinand's subtle voice in a hearty tone. Ferdinand did not know much about the design of warships, especially naval warfare, and he could only guarantee that the navy would have a stable and sufficient funding with his support, but he could not give Qingying a direct decision to build dreadnoughts. Eventually, he threw the ball to the man in the House of Trieste. Let the professionals of the Empire judge which of these two warships is better or worse.

For this situation, Qingying couldn't help but be a little embarrassed. Because of his cheap father Wilhelm II's profound attainments in naval warships, he directly took a shortcut from the monarch in his previous strengthening of German naval ships; Over time, this behavior became an inherent habit. However, before leaving, Ferdinand's words of confession filled his heart with renewed motivation: Austria-Hungary would start construction of three capital battleships in 1907-1909, exactly the same number as the historical Radetz class. This means that as long as Qingying operates properly, then these 3 historical warships can complete the gorgeous upgrade from the former dreadnought to the dreadnought!

As for the problem that the Austro-Hungarian budget might become insufficient due to the upgrade of warships, Qingying had already come up with a solution to help Austria-Hungary solve the problem, that is, to hand over one of them to a German shipyard to build. Historically, Austria-Hungary's industrial base was much less solid than that of Britain and Germany (which led to a much higher price of industrial products). Coupled with the greedy bureaucrats, the cost of their warships is the highest in the world. The displacement of the Austro-Hungarian first stage dreadnought joint force is only 20,000 tons. However, the cost is as high as 2.8 million pounds, which is more exaggerated than the 3.03 million pounds cost by the 23,000-ton Gangut in Russia, and if a German shipyard were to undertake the construction, one ship could save at least a third of the cost! Although Qingying really wanted the German shipyards to take care of the construction of the ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, because in this way, the funds used by the Austro-Hungarian Navy to build two ships in the country could build three ships in Germany; However, due to political considerations, as well as the fact that Germany was engaged in a dreadnought race with Britain and its own additional production capacity was very limited, it had to abandon this all-encompassing plan.

In order to let the Austro-Hungarian Navy enter the era of dreadnought as soon as possible and more effectively assist Germany in the Mediterranean theater to contain Britain, Qing Ying came to Trieste. Feng? Hauss, who would later become Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, met with him. House's expertise was far greater than that of Archduke Ferdinand, and after Qing Ying gave him a detailed analysis of the advantages of the dreadnought over the previous dreadnought's long-range strike, unified fire control, and clear and discernible landing points, he "understood very quickly like an elf" and fully accepted the development concept of an all-heavy artillery warship. And when Ching Ying showed him the detailed two-view blueprint, House had promised that he would do everything in his power to convince the Austro-Hungarian military ministry to allocate an appropriation for the new capital ship.

With the support of Haus, the future commander of the Austro-Hungarian fleet and who is now almost in the top three in the navy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy's path of dreadnought was finally able to enter several years ahead of schedule, and this period of time would undoubtedly be a very valuable time for the fleet to accumulate in the early 20th century, when warship technology was rapidly developing. Haus, who had carefully accepted the drawings, offered to take Qingying on a tour of the Austro-Hungarian naval fleet out of gratitude and for the purpose of increasing the weight in the eyes of his German allies, and Qingying gladly agreed. He also wanted to see what kind of fleet the Austro-Hungarian Navy had become, which was different from history, under his previous influence.

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In 1898, in order to strengthen the Austro-Hungarian navy and more effectively deal with potential threats from France and Italy, Qing Ying asked Tirpitz to secretly give the Austro-Hungarian top a set of general plans for the design of battleships during a friendly exchange of visits between the two navies. In his memory, it was in 1899 that the Austro-Hungarian Navy began a major development, and in the next six years it built seven capital ships with a total tonnage of nearly 63,000 tons, and became a presence that could not be ignored by the traditional powers of the Mediterranean, Italy and France.

Historically, however, Austria-Hungary, due to its lack of confidence in its own navy, built ships of an alternative type of ship equipped with 240 mm cream guns and as fast as an armored cruiser; This clearly shows that he wants to engage in the obscene act of "the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the enemy is weak and we are strong and the aggression is like fire." He never thought of fighting a dignified and upright decisive battle with the other side. This is a good choice for countries with a small number of warships, but Austria-Hungary is one of the five great powers in Europe, and their economic and industrial strength is by no means weak, and they can build ships faster than they expected. After Austria-Hungary had built a large number of "armored ships" between battleships and cruisers, the navy officers were embarrassed to find that the frontal combat effectiveness of this fleet was really worth the cost; Knowing this, it is better to build a decisive battle fleet from the beginning, these tonnages are enough to have the strength to fight the Italian Navy if converted into regular battleships!

Therefore, the design that Qingying previously gave to the Austro-Hungarian Navy was a first-class standard Mediterranean type dreadnought of 10,000 tons. At the beginning, he also went to Austria-Hungary with the attitude of giving it a try, and did not have much hope, after all, these high-ranking members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, who had grown up in the atmosphere of traditional land power, had an inexplicable fear and caution about the sea, and they could not be expected to turn the corner of their ideas all at once. A guy like Tirpitz who threw himself directly into the development of battleships was the only one in the whole of Europe! In Qingying's view, it doesn't matter if Austria-Hungary does not adopt this design, after all, after entering the era of dreadnoughts, the role that the former dreadnoughts can play will be greatly reduced; As long as he can check the strength of Austro-Hungarian Radetz and the United Forces, then everything is still under his control.

However, Qingying obviously underestimated the elite of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Under the introduction of House, a lean old man, Qingying had a general understanding of the active lineup of the Austro-Hungarian Navy; To his surprise, this fleet has completely departed from the embarrassing situation in history in which the high cannot be low or low, but has truly developed into a modern and high-quality navy with the decisive battle of the fleet as its core purpose! With the exception of three old ironclads and five 240-mm gun-armored ships built before 1896, the ships built by Austria-Hungary after that were transformed by leaps and bounds; The new Habsburg-class battleships are a typical example of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's transition from fleeing and attacking to attacking and decisive battles.

The standard displacement of this class is 10,300 tons, the full load displacement is 11,600 tons, 12 water-tube boilers provide it with an output of 12,000 horsepower, and the superior underwater ship design allows it to reach a speed of 18 knots. Although the tonnage of the ship is small, its attack and defense are unambiguous: it is equipped with 4 twin 305 mm L40 main guns and 10 single 150 mm L40 secondary guns, and the main protection area on the side has a large area of Krupp hardened armor with a thickness of 250 mm, and the frontal combat power is better than that of a 14,000-ton standard battleship built by Britain at the same time!

From 1899 to 1904, Austria-Hungary built a new ship of this type every year, and at present, in the core berth of the military port of Trieste, there are six stubby, strong, and powerful new battleships. Compared with the seven "armored ships" built by Austria-Hungary in the same period of history, the Habsburg-class will undoubtedly play a far superior role in the head-on decisive battle for sea supremacy in the future. (To be continued......)