"Your government has asked for almost four new capital ships, which is bound to have a huge impact on the situation in the Pacific region. In order to counteract this effect, the Japanese Empire should retain a capital fleet of 320,000 tons, and have the right to start construction of three more capital ships in the future. "After the secret agreement with the Germans, there was also a noticeable change in the attitude of the Japanese, as if they were not at all a weak industrial country with an average annual steel output of only 1% of the United States, but a world leader standing proudly in the Far East.

"Britain's Hood-class battleships were also started in 1913, and now the hull work is 50% complete; Even if its displacement is slightly larger, it should be completed with two new ships that the U.S. government intends to retain. Immediately after Japan, the British delegates also put forward their own demands at the talks. Although Britain suffered a disgraceful defeat in the European War, the war that lasted only one year was far from exhausting the empire's foundation like the First World War in history; With its position as the world's financial center and its second largest industry after the United States, Britain still has a far superior shipbuilding capacity than it has in its history.

Compared with Germany, Japan and Britain's eagerness to try in the field of new ship substitution, Italy, which has always had an excellent appetite, suddenly found itself in an embarrassing situation. Counting the two Da Vinci classes that are about to be completed, they now have nine dreadnoughts, and the total tonnage is close to the 200,000-ton mark: if they want to build new ships, this ceiling will have to soar by at least 30%, and such a share is obviously impossible to be accepted by major powers such as Germany and the United States. And if, like Germany and the United States and other countries, the old ships of the same tonnage are scrapped while building new ships, the Italians are reluctant. Their current dreadnoughts have only been commissioned for most of the past six months. Each boat took four or five years of work and more than £2.5 million. It is simply impossible to disassemble and return to the furnace. The 4 dreadnoughts captured from the French were also average. Not to mention that the performance of the Kolbe class is even better than the Italians' own Count of Cavour. The mere act of scrapping them was enough to make the Austro-Hungarian government, which had also longed for them before, pull out its sword and roar at itself: You used to ask for the ship to go back, and now you dismantle the ship without blinking, you are kidding me, right?

In the face of the reactions of all sides, the US government immediately began discussions with the military to see if it could keep fewer new warships, but the other side categorically refused. "We must remove all former dreadnoughts from the service sequence of the United States Navy. In any case, we cannot stay in the Navy for more than 15 years with these garbage heaps; If we did. It would be an inexcusable crime of wasting taxpayers' money and disregarding the lives of the officers and soldiers of the United States. If possible, the 2 South Carolina-class ships must also be decommissioned and dismantled, and with a speed of only 18.5 knots, they simply cannot keep up with the formation of dreadnoughts, and the consequences of greatly slowing down the speed of the formation will be a fatal potential danger in a naval battle. To the government officials who came to inquire about him, Rodman, commander of the U.S. Navy's main fleet, replied.

"Although the Germans also demanded that their new warships be retained, the greatest beneficiary was undoubtedly the United States. They traded the scrapping of the dreadnoughts in service for the completion of these ships, and we did so by demolishing a large number of useless dreadnoughts. More importantly, with this treaty, the United States was able to survive the most dangerous moment of its rise and avoid the catastrophic situation in which a first-mover power could launch a preventive war against us. ”

In the midst of a stalemate of quarrels. US Navy Undersecretary Franklin? Roosevelt urged Yu to make concessions to the other side in exchange for his country's orderly naval build-up. Although his qualifications were the lowest among the American delegates present. But his insight and thinking have already shown a sensitivity that is different from ordinary people: "The European war that has just passed is fundamentally the result of this preventive war: Germany chose to refuse to back down on the colonial dispute in order to eliminate the growing threat on the Western Front, which eventually led to the outbreak of a major war between Germany and France." In order to eliminate Germany, the challenger to naval fleet and world hegemony, Britain did not mediate the tension between Germany and France, but jointly issued a declaration of entente with Russia, spreading the war from Germany and France to the whole of Europe. Therefore, we must avoid being the object of prevention, and the peace treaty concluded in this negotiation is the key to solving this problem. If this naval agreement is concluded, we can safely expand the size of the navy to 80% of Germany's size, and avoid the most dangerous moment in this development. And if the situation changes, we can scrap this treaty at any time; With the economy and industry of the United States, it will take ten years at most to become the world's first navy! ”

Under the persuasion of Roosevelt Jr., the American top leaders headed by Wilson gradually approved his idea. In the specific implementation, the US government has made corresponding changes: in the face of Germany, which dominates Europe, their attitude has suddenly changed and moderate, saying that everything is easy to discuss; As for the island country in the western Pacific, the United States is still tough, insisting that Japan's demand for 70 percent of the United States' capital ships and the construction of three new capital ships is simply unacceptable. The US Government has made no secret of its contempt and claimed that with Japan's economic and industrial strength, the tonnage of its capital ships can rank above Austria-Hungary and Italy.

In order to safeguard future interests, Qingying undoubtedly sided with Japan in this competition between the United States and Japan: it is indeed somewhat difficult for Japan to obtain 70% of the tonnage of US capital ships, but there is still room to fight for a share as in history. After some fierce bargaining, Japan finally got 275,000 tons of capital ship tonnage, which is 60% of the 450,000 tons of the United States. Considering that the United States had to send fleets to two oceans, this was also a barely acceptable share for Japan.

With the finalization of this ratio, the tonnage of the capital ships of various countries that have been arguing for several days has also ushered in a breakthrough point. The tonnage of capital ships that the German Navy could retain was determined to be 550,000 tons, which was the highest among all countries. Tirpitz's pursuit of Prussian sea power was finally fully realized twenty years after his arrival on the German pivotal stage. In addition, the four new capital ships, codenamed H-40 and H-43, were also spared the fate of being dismantled, and together with the eight King-class, they would become the absolute backbone of the German Navy's battlefleet after the war.

Although the current lineup of the US Navy is only the third in the world, and the tonnage of dreadnoughts is less than half of that of Germany, with its unparalleled industrial strength and preemptive ship-building orders, it still ranks second in the world with a scale of 450,000 tons. Two of the Colorado-class battleships and Lexington-class battlecruisers that the United States had started in 1914 were retained, which was enough for them to throw the two original dreadnoughts and all the former dreadnoughts back into the furnace.

With the retention of this batch of new ships whose performance far exceeds that of their longitudinal predecessors, the upper limit of the single performance of the capital ship has also been determined. Germany and the United States put forward a joint statement that the standard displacement of new capital ships to be built by each country in the future should not exceed 35,000 tons, and the caliber of the main guns should not exceed 406 mm -- this is almost the basic number of the two latest capital ships. Faced with this situation, the British representatives lodged a strong protest, because their Hood-class battleships amounted to 42,000 even according to the world standard of the newly prescribed "standard displacement", which meant that not a single one of the warships they had planned in 1913 could be built and put into service!

This time, however, it was Germany and the United States that joined forces to force Britain to make concessions. In any case, the tonnage of the Hood class was too large, and the potential for modification given by the seat of its design for the twin 457mm cannon was unacceptable to both Germany and the United States with a main gun caliber of 16 inches. In the end, Britain was forced to compromise on this issue and scrap all the Hood classes that had already started. As compensation, Britain was allowed to start construction of two new ships with 406 mm main guns in the future, subject to the limit of no more than 350,000 tons of total tonnage of capital ships.

Japan's treatment in the field of new ships is similar to that of the United Kingdom, and after the completion of the Fuso class, they will be able to start construction of two capital ships under the 275,000-ton limit. For the Americans, this situation was barely acceptable, because with the completion of the 44th Fleet, only 60,000 tons of empty tonnage were left for the Japanese to play: no matter how the other side distributed, the overall performance of their new ships would surpass that of the same number of American warships with a standard displacement approaching the upper limit. Looking at the Americans who were crackling with wishful thinking, Qingying couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart, these Americans are really still too young, too simple, and they don't understand the Japanese temperament at all.

It is simply unrealistic to expect the Japanese to abide by the treaty, and they are the most sick survivors during the treaty period in history. One of the most typical cases is that the Japanese forced the most advanced light patrol with a standard displacement of 8,500 tons to 11,200 tons, and after the later gun was replaced, it reached 12,400 tons, which exceeded the standard by more than 45%! As for exceeding the standard by 20%, it is even more common for them: in the future, they can build a ship that claims 30,000 tons to no more than 35,000 tons of the upper limit of the treaty, which is already an extremely conscientious move!

As for Austria-Hungary and Italy, the size of their fleets was limited to 180,000 tons. In view of the current state of the Italian Navy, the States specifically allowed it to maintain the status quo and maintain a lineup of nine dreadnoughts, subject to the tonnage limit stipulated in the treaty when new ships are started in the future. Due to the lack of tonnage of the Austro-Hungarian ships in service, they also got the permission letter to start construction of 65,000 tons of capital ships in the future. (To be continued......)

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