From the current point of view, the situation facing the Grand Fleet of the British Empire is very dire. It was even worse than the Anglo-Dutch War and the struggle with Louis XIV. The British Empire needed to fight in three battlefields and four countries, and although there was still a France on the British side, the French had already begun to concentrate on building fortifications and tanks, and they could not help the British too much.

Historically, Britain's maritime environment was much better, and its main fleet was basically shrunk on the mainland, while the French fleet and the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean Sea blocked the four dreadnoughts of Austria-Hungary. There were old ships and the Japanese navy in the Far East and the Indian Ocean, and when the US imperialist fleet joined in the later period, it had an overwhelming absolute advantage. But now, the situation is not optimistic.

At present, Italy seems to be on the side of Germany and Austria, and the Germans have also opened up their skills to engage in large-caliber naval guns as soon as possible. If it weren't for the weak German guns in Jutland, the four queens might have left a few. The victory of the German navy in Jutland was more than doubled. This may have led to a more aggressive policy in Germany. After all, if the queen was to lose, the British fast avant-garde fleet would really be crippled.

Italy's entry put a lot of pressure on the French in the Mediterranean. If the French could not bear it themselves, the British would have to help, and the British in the Indian Ocean could not be relied on, the historical Japanese allies were gone, replaced by China, which had average relations with the British but excellent relations with the Germans, and the Turkish fleet had been strengthened and was about to be deployed in the Persian Gulf. It is even more likely that the Spee fleet will work in tandem with the Turkish fleet. Faced with this situation. If the British wanted to achieve victory, they could never rely on the strength of the fleet alone. Tactical thinking and systems must change.

As the commander of the Grand Fleet, Jericho was also thinking about how he needed to face these powerful enemies in the future. It is obviously not possible to divide the troops and deploy them in various places, not to mention how much more fleets of the British Empire and France can outnumber each other at the least, and from the perspective of the defending side, such a deployment is too risky. For example, if you deploy a fleet in India and the German fleet is smaller, then if the size of your fleet is enlarged in the same proportion, there will be only one or two warships more than the other side. If it is destroyed in an engagement or otherwise unable to fight for a long time, it will lose control of the Indian Ocean. This in turn leads to a series of shocks.

Jericho was satisfied with the quality of the officers and men of his fleet, but he was quite complaining about the construction of warships. Even historically, after the British Empire fleet entered the pre-dreadnought era, there were very few truly top-notch warships in terms of design. It is said that the Sovereign-class battleships are so bad. The actual combat effectiveness of this thing is not as good as that of the American Indian Anna-class battleships, and they already have turret guns and second-stage main guns. When it comes to dignity. The British are still using patio guns on the first few Dignity!

The so-called dauntless ushered in an era. That's because it was relatively early, and it didn't take long for it to be surpassed by latecomers. SUBSEQUENT BATTLESHIPS OF 1909 DID HAVE 343MM LARGE-CALIBER GUNS, BUT THEIR OWN PROTECTION AND UNDERWATER MINE PROTECTION WERE TERRIBLE. Bold and thunderous, Shen Zhi Dao, no? The British Super Fearless Daring was scrapped by an old-fashioned mine with a charge of 180KG! A German battle cruiser Goeben crashed into 2 mines and went back alive, which made the British embarrassed!

Although Jericho was now trying to reverse this situation for some reason, and had begun to prepare before the British rioted in the world, Jericho still felt a little overwhelmed by the shipbuilders and the huge British naval bureaucracy. However, he was also an excellent naval commander in history. Coupled with the fact that he has participated in many naval battles in this plane, his understanding of the navy is more accurate than that of history. He was fully aware that it was no longer possible to rely on the numerical superiority of the Royal Navy against the equally large and refined German, Italian, Austrian, and Turkish fleets, because they were not small, and the British had to face the enemy's naval breakdown. So change is a must.

It is very dangerous to station a powerful detachment in the Mediterranean and India for a long time, the Grand Fleet must always meet the challenge of the German High Seas Fleet, and the fleet you send to the Mediterranean will undoubtedly weaken the already small advantage, and the other question is how many warships do you send in the Mediterranean? The size of the new fleet of the French and Italians is similar, and after adding the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the other side can have at least 4 or so more dreadnoughts, and the British sent 4 ships to the same number only, and sent 6 ships to maybe make a draw, after all, the combat power of the Italians is obvious to all!

Then, in the Indian Ocean, Jericho has already received the news that Turkey will order dreadnoughts, and at the same time, he has also received the news that Huaxia will compensate for German reparations with new warships. Combining these two pieces of information, Jericho expects 3 to 4 dreadnoughts in the Middle East. Then the British will send no less than the number of capital ships of the other side, and this is only on paper. It's hard to say who wins and who loses in a real fight! If the British were to take on these two battlefields, the British would have to send at least 10 capital ships and a large number of auxiliary warships. And even that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to stop the scene! Once these fleets are transferred, I'm afraid that the Grand Fleet will really not be able to defeat the High Seas Fleet! 10 capital ships and a fleet of auxiliaries! This is already the entire family of a maritime power, and the entire Italian navy together does not necessarily have such a scale!

Well, although the British were allies, the Russian fleet was blocked in two fish tanks, the Baltic and the Black Sea. It can only ensure the safety of its own coastline, and it is impossible for the main fleet to take the initiative to attack, and the Baltic Fleet is looking for death when it comes out to find the fault of the German fleet, and it may not be spared in its own harbor. As for the Black Sea Fleet? It's all a bunch of old warships, and I don't see any future now. Although Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other vassal countries agreed to support the British Empire, but it is doubtful that they can come up with a few warships in the end, Belgium pays attention to the army, and the Netherlands originally had a little money, but now, the situation is worrying.

Therefore, Jericho needs to improve the overall strength of the fleet, and each battleship must be refined. If £2.2 million can make a good ship, then you can't make a bad one for £1.8 million! The former can survive a single battle, while the latter is very easy to lose. In general, combat effectiveness is directly proportional to price. Secondly, the design of the main fleet must also shift from emphasizing speed and firepower to a balanced design, and even reduce speed if necessary. The reason is simple, the British in the North Sea did not necessarily have to destroy the German fleet, as long as they could lock it up.

In Jericho's vision, the future British capital ships are divided into two kinds, the first is a fast battleship with a speed of 25 to 26 knots, these battleships have no less firepower and protection than the main front ships and a speed of 3 to 4 knots at an altitude, similar to the Longtai-class fast battleships in the Chinese fleet, they will become a reliable vanguard of the British fleet, and can maneuver in the battlefield and cooperate with the main fleet to attack the opponent. The second type is the orthodox battleship, with thick armor and heavy firepower, and even the requirements for protection must be placed before firepower, and the average speed is based on 22 knots. The first-class capital ship that the British are building now is based on the drawings provided to the British by the Chinese Navy in those years, and Jericho is very satisfied with this kind of front-line column ship with 10 main guns arranged in the central axis.

As for the battle cruisers? If it were not for the requirements of Sir Fisher, and the need to attack possible high-speed enemy ships in the Indian Ocean. (For example, light cruisers and fast battleships of Germany and Turkey.) Jericho didn't even want to include these ships in his plans, they were too brittle, and this vulnerability may not mean that they exploded in a fight, but because their combat effectiveness was declining too quickly. Even if the core area can be secured by strengthening the Dome, the damage and water ingress caused will still lead to a decrease in the ship's combat effectiveness. They did not have the ability to hunt German fast battleships independently, only if they were wounded.

The only thing that satisfied Jericho at the moment was that Sir Fisher seemed to see the problem of the "perfect cat", and in that naval battle in the Far East, even the fortified seven-province fast battleships would still collapse under the blows of the opponent's superior firepower, let alone the battlecruisers that focused solely on speed and firepower. The reason why the Long Xu was able to survive was because of the absolute superiority of his own side and the sufficient thickness of the dome armor. So in the face of the facts, Sir Fisher also believed that in the absence of absolute superiority on his side, a simple thin-skinned battle cruiser was indeed too dangerous. And he also focused on turret protection and fire prevention, after all, the title of turret, a cannonball magnet, is not called for nothing! Too many turrets have been lit in previous naval battles!

The so-called butterfly effect is that a little change in history can lead to a huge change in the world, Fisher is not a fool, there are examples of battles there will naturally learn from the lessons, and Jericho has experienced too many bloody battles and battles in this plane. So inadvertently, they have begun to subtly change the history of the original British dreadnought, if this incident makes Xu Jie know, should Xu Jie cry or laugh? He deliberately considered how to strengthen the German fleet to wear down the British fleet. opened more than N hanging, and as a result, the strong, rich and productive Britain also began to hang!

In addition to strengthening the design of warships, Jericho also has a very important plan, that is, to optimize the deployment of the fleet, in the main fleet specially drawn a strong fast fleet, the strength of this fleet is not only reflected in the capital ships, in the light cruisers must also have an overwhelming advantage, this fleet has only one purpose, that is, through rapid maneuvering, in the mainland, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean to carry out mobile operations, take the initiative to find fighters to annihilate the opponent's capital ships. Strategically it's a bit like mobile defense in the army.

First of all, I would like to thank the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward and the book friend Dramekyo for the monthly pass support~~. Secondly, the side side asks for subscription support, yesterday's subscription was nearly 200 lower than the day before yesterday under the sea. The author's heart is cold——! (To be continued......)