"On the slipways of the United States, France and Russia, there are a total of 6 super monsters being built, and these 6 dreadnought warships, the kings of the sea, they all belong to the same level! This is also the largest and most expensive naval capital ship in the history of the Russian Navy, which we call the Borodino-class battleship, to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Battle of Borodino in the war against Napoleon's invasion. The Russian Admiralty, Rozdvinsky said.

"There were a total of 6 ships in this class, the first ship was Borodino, the second ship was Duke Suvonov, the third ship was Alexander III, the fourth ship was Eagle, the fifth ship was Glorious, and the sixth ship was Retvizan. The first two of these six battleships were built in the United States. The third and fourth ships were built at the French Mediterranean shipyard, and the last two ships were built at the Baltic shipyard in our country, and after completion, these six capital ships will become the backbone of the main fleet of our navy! ”

"The ship has a displacement of 18,000 tons, a hull length of 145 meters, a width of 24.5 meters, and a draft of 8.2 meters. Powered by 16 Bellevue boilers and powered by 3 steam engines, 3 propellers sailed, with a total output of 20,000 horsepower. The normal maximum sailing speed is 19.5 knots, and it is expected to run about 20.5 knots under overload. The armor belt is 11 inches at the rear of the armor belt, and then gradually cut down to the upper and lower parts of the armor belt, of which the armor belt with a thickness of more than 9 inches is 3 meters high, the upper armor belt is 6 inches, and the frontal armor of the turret is 12 inches. THE SIDE ARMOR IS 7 INCHES, AND THE REAR ARMOR IS 150MM. The armor of the turret was 10 inches at the thickest point and 6 inches at the thinnest point. The conning tower armor is 10 inches thick. The thickness of the armor of the gun gallery was 6 inches. All guns above 6 inches were protected by the armor of the gun gallery. The thickness of the horizontal armor is between 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches. ”

"The ship had a very powerful armament system, and its most powerful weapons were housed in four twin turrets arranged along the central axis, and the main gun we chose was the 1897-inch 45L gun developed by France. The gun weighs 56 tons and can fire a 400-kilogram shell at a speed of 700 meters per second. The theoretical rate of fire is 45 shots per second. The average ammunition reserve per gun is 80 rounds. The secondary gun used is the Russian Navy's 1892 6-inch 45L cannon, with a shell weight of 40KG and a rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute. Each gun has a reserve of 180 rounds. The ship was equipped with a total of 12 guns, which were placed in 12 gun galleries on the side of the ship's side. IN ADDITION, THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUNS, WHICH ARE ONLY PROTECTED BY CANNON SHIELDS, USUALLY BETWEEN 10 AND 14 GUNS. Besides. We also had 4 18-inch torpedo tubes and 16 18-inch torpedoes on our battleship. ”

"In order to get the most out of this battleship, we are equipped with a 4-meter rangefinder and a fire control system provided by the French. ACCORDING TO THE TESTS OF THE FRENCH, THIS SYSTEM CAN GET A DECENT HIT AT 8 TO 10 KM. Of course, it's all a test, and how effective it is. It also has to go through the test of actual combat. Now if you have any questions you can ask, I will try to answer them. Rozdvinsky said in the end.

"What is the progress of the works on these ships? When will we get all 6 capital ships? It is said that the two battleships built by the Americans for us have been completed, when can we send someone to pick them up? Makanov asked with concern, 6 dreadnought warships are the fundamental strength of Makanov's rivalry with the Huaxia fleet! Therefore, no one in the navy cares more about the progress of these warships than him.

"The two battleships that the Americans built for us are indeed completed, and we can go and pick them up at any time. The two battleships built by the French were in the final stages and were expected to be fully completed in three months, in February 1904. But we could not match these 4 ships with enough officers and experienced sailors. Each battleship required 950 officers and men. Among them, the number of officers is 87, plus the technical personnel who participated in the sea trials with the ship. We need more than 4,000 or even 5,000 people. And there are hundreds of officers and related technical personnel, which is a lot of pressure for our current navy. Rozdvinsky said carefully.

"Damn, do we have enough advanced warships but not enough manpower?" Makanov cursed in a low voice. The naval battles in the Sino-Russian War caused losses to the empire not only the sinking of valuable cruisers and battleships to the bottom of the sea, but also the loss of thousands of highly trained officers and nearly 10,000 naval soldiers! Although these officers may not be very good, and may have all kinds of bad habits and all kinds of illegal behavior, after all, they are the hard work of the Russian Navy! They are at least rigorously trained! Know at least some of the most basic operating procedures! And now, these people are lost forever with the sinking of the battleship! So much so that it is difficult for the current Russian Navy to find enough manpower to accept the battleships.

"Your Excellency, Vice Admiral, you should know that the Sino-Russian War has only passed for less than 4 years, and the problem of our personnel disconnection is still very serious, and because this time we are going to the Far East to fight the powerful Imperial fleet, the children of the nobles are reluctant to join the navy, and in their opinion, the navy is no longer attractive enough. Our recruitment process is also very slow. Rozdvinsky said with a slight embarrassment.

"If the aristocracy wants to evade their responsibilities, the navy can recruit cadets from among the common people, and we can even hire foreigners, whether French or Americans, if they want to experience the largest and most modern naval engagement in human history so far, we can give them a chance, and if we can already spend tens of millions of pounds on warships, why can't we spend hundreds of thousands more pounds to acquire enough good professionals? Hopefully, the Admiralty will give serious consideration to my suggestion. Makanov said excitedly.

"I want to know, how is the progress of the construction of the two Borodino-class battleships being built in our country? When will it be completed at the latest? General Falk Hill asked.

"Damn, why don't you open a pot!" Rozdvensky cursed in his heart. If the two ships of the United States and France are just short of sufficient personnel, then the self-built warships are not only not enough crews, but also not enough workers! It's not that there weren't so many workers in Russian shipyards, but that there were too few skilled skilled workers! And more importantly, a large number of workers are now actually on strike! On the one hand, it is asking for higher wages and benefits, and on the other hand, it is also asking for a 10-hour work system! Now in the Russian treasury, in order to prepare for the jingle of war poverty, the chancellor of the exchequer in order to maintain the living standards of the nobles of the royal family from decreasing, but also to prepare for war, has long wanted to break a ruble in half! How can there be so much money for those gray animals?

"The construction of the battleship is intensifying, and the fifth ship is now ready to be launched, and the construction of the fifth ship is expected to be completed by the end of 1904. As for the sixth? Progress is now slow due to a lack of labor and mechanics, and you should be aware that the major Russian shipyards are still working on other cruisers and light auxiliary warships, so there is a shortage of manpower. Rozdvinsky said carefully.

"That is, if at this rate, the service of all 6 battleships will be dragged out until 1905? And we will probably start the war until the end of 1905 or 1906? Time is not on our side, it is expected that in 1905, the two fast battleships built by the Republic of China will be put into service, the superiority of our fast fleet will be weakened, and the situation in Europe has gradually become tense, if the main fleet has a mistake in the Far East, I am afraid that the Baltic Sea will become an inland sea for the Germans! Makanov said with a sad face.

"I'm sorry general, the reality is like this, we can only make relevant preparations at the end of 1905 at the earliest, and then look for a suitable opportunity to start a war with the Huaxia Navy." Rozdvensky thought for a moment and said.

"If this is the case, I suggest that the other fleets quickly go to the Far East after their service to maintain the deterrence of the Huaxia Navy, and if the two slow snail-like warships can, I hope that after the completion of the main works and the installation of the main components, they can also accompany the fleet to the movement. The battle between the two sides will be a battle between the fast fleets, and we still have time to finish the tail end of the two ships. Makanov said with some eagerness.

The Chinese Navy can afford to wait, but the Russian Navy can't afford to wait. The situation in the world is changing rapidly, after he led the main fleet away, the Baltic Sea immediately became empty, although the Black Sea Fleet still has some old goods, but not to mention that these old goods are simply not able to deal with Germany's cutting-edge warships, even if they can be dealt with, the Turks will not let the Black Sea Fleet pass through the Dardanelles! In addition to the Baltic direction, in the Balkans and on the border between Persia and Russia, Turkey and Persia have also become very restless, they are waiting, waiting for the Russian military to be transferred to the Far East, and then they will take the opportunity to attack! Once the Balkans fall back into the hands of Turkey or Austria-Hungary, Russia will truly become an island of the world! In wartime, contacts with Britain and France will be completely severed! And this is undoubtedly bad news for the weak Russians!

"The war can only start in 1905, we can't wait, the current environment is very bad for Russia, the British have not finally made peace with Russia, the French are bent on turning the attention of the empire back to Europe, so they don't care about the war in the Far East, we must prove the value of the Russian army with practical actions, only in this way will the British win us over, and the Germans will be afraid of us! We will be able to preserve the passage between the Balkans and Britain and France. Makanov pondered for a moment, then said categorically.

Thank you for the VIP reading bag sent by Brother Kongchen, and thank you for the reward ~~~. (To be continued......)