Although Wilhelm II attached great importance to the navy, quite seriously, and did his best to develop it. But there is still an inescapable fact that the German Navy is still too weak for its own tasks, and the German Navy needs a lot of money to arm itself. Compared with history, the biggest problem of the German Navy is that it is no longer able to obtain steam turbine units from the British, so the Germans must develop their own steam turbines or buy American ones. The urgency of time and money put a lot of pressure on the German Navy.

First of all, the first problem was the problem of artillery, and the German naval department had realized that its artillery caliber was too small and too useless. PREPARATIONS ARE UNDERWAY TO DEVELOP A NEW 350MM GUN. I guess that's fine. BUT SOON AFTER, THE GERMAN ADMIRALTY SUDDENLY HEARD THE NEWS THAT THE BRITISH HAD BEGUN TO DEVELOP NOT ONLY 343MM HEAVY GUNS, BUT ALSO 15-INCH HEAVY GUNS IN THE NEAR FUTURE! This made the Germans feel Alexander at once!

The first thing the Germans had when they got this information was that the British were crazy! There are even suspicions that it was a smoke bomb released by the British government. AT THAT TIME, IT WAS CERTAINLY NOT POSSIBLE TO LEAVE IT ALONE, BECAUSE ACCORDING TO THE ESTIMATION OF KRUPP'S TECHNICIANS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 350MM GUN COULD BE COMPLETED BY 1910 AT MOST WITH GERMANY'S OWN PROGRESS, AND THE BRITISH COULD NOT HAVE BEEN LATER THAN THAT. It is highly probable that the design of the 15-inch naval gun will be completed before 1912. And by 1913 at the latest, the British might have been able to equip dreadnoughts with 15-inch guns. If the Germans want to take the lead in this war, they can only keep up! After all, the number is not superior. If the British quality is superior, Germany will really not be able to play!

In the opinion of the Germans, if a battleship with 8 to 10 guns of the 14-inch class was to be built. Then the tonnage of this battleship will be between 26,000 and 28,000 tons. If it were equipped with the same number of 15-inch naval guns, then the tonnage of this battleship would be more than 30,000 tons! The Germans didn't know how the British could build such a large warship, but first of all, the Germans were a little worried about their shipbuilding skills. After all, such a battleship is too big.

So the problem faced by the Germans was not only the backwardness of the development progress of artillery, but also the backwardness of the design and power equipment of the battleship. In fact, in history, the German Navy's shipbuilding has always tended to be conservative, and the Bavaria-class battleships of that year had some twists and turns because of the tonnage problem.

At the beginning, after learning that the British were engaged in 15-inch naval guns. THE GERMAN ADMIRALTY PROPOSED TWO SCHEMES, ONE FOR A BATTLESHIP ARMED WITH 10 350MM GUNS, AND THE OTHER FOR A BATTLESHIP ARMED WITH 8 400MM GUNS. The tonnage of these warships will be more than 30,000 tons. The cost was also nearly £3 million. Even the Kaiser, who favored the navy, was somewhat hesitant in the face of such huge costs and risks. Subsequently, the Kaiser made a counter-proposal. That is, the construction of battleships equipped with eight 15-inch guns, and the tonnage was limited to about 28,000 tons, which became Bavaria.

But now history has changed. The British have decided to continue playing big. The Germans had only two choices, either they chose not to play and recognize British supremacy at sea, or they chose to continue playing, and the British were crazy The Germans had to be even crazier! But this was really difficult for the German Navy, which had limited funds. After all, Germany is a country dominated by land power. If you play like this, you're going to get into trouble! So after thinking about it, the Germans had to give up some of the so-called faces and began to study countermeasures together with Italy and Austria-Hungary.

The Confederates were three main countries, each with an independent industrial system. THE SAME 350MM CLASS GUN. Krupp is doing it, Skoda is doing it, and Andolsha in Italy is still doing it! As a result, the Allies had to spend three times as much money to create three different main guns. It's not just money that's wasted, it's time that's wasted! The same is true for powertrains. It's still the same in terms of design. The Germans thought about it, and it might not work to persuade Italy to abandon the original warship development plan, but if they persuaded Austria-Hungary, I am afraid there would be little pressure. Although Krupp is very strong in terms of production capacity, it is not necessarily stronger than Skoda in terms of large-caliber artillery! There is a consensus in Germany on this point.

THEREFORE, THE GERMANS FIRST NEGOTIATED WITH AUTRO-HUNGARIAN, AND ASKED AUTRO-HUNGARIAN TO CONCENTRATE ON 350MM HEAVY GUNS FOR THE GERMAN HIGH SEAS FLEET AND THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN FLEET, AND THEN THE TWO SIDES WORKED TOGETHER TO DEVELOP 15-INCH HEAVY GUNS. IN ADDITION TO THE MAIN GUN, THE REMAINING 150MM SECONDARY GUNS, 88 ANTI-MINE GUNS, ETC. ARE ALSO UNIVERSAL, WHICH CAN SAVE CONSIDERABLE COSTS, AND THE FOCUS OF THE GERMAN NAVY IS TO GET THE STEAM TURBINE AND BOILER FIRST TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT POWER FOR THE BATTLESHIP.

And in terms of battleships, the Germans had to work with the Italians on the design of the next generation of battleships, that's right, you read that right, it was the next generation of battleships! The Germans suddenly found that their new battleships had only eight 14-inch guns, and they could not compete with the British battleships armed with eight or nine 15-inch guns. Now that it was decided to stay the course, the Germans believed that their battleships of the same class should at least not be weaker than their opponents, and in addition to speed, they must be stronger than the British in terms of firepower and protection!

The Germans, who were already quite aggressive, also planned to equip the future battleships with 16-inch naval guns. This rather chatty request was denied before it was sent to Tirpitz, 16-inch naval guns? Now the 14-inch has not been developed, and the 15-inch project has not yet begun, so you dare to think about 16 inches? Even if the cannon comes out, what will happen to the ship? According to German estimates, the weight of this ship is conservatively estimated to be more than 35,000 tons, and at this tonnage, even if the German shipyard can design such a large warship, it is a question whether the Kiel Canal can be crossed.

Moreover, the construction and design cycle of this warship is too large, so big that Germany does not dare to think about it at present, the reason is very simple, time waits for no one, Germany must prepare for war with its opponent in the next 10 years, otherwise, once the Russians completely ease their breath, the balance of power will develop in a completely opposite direction. And the United States on the other side of the ocean is also full of hostility towards Germany, on the one hand, the competition between German industrial products and the United States, and on the other hand, the close financial ties between the United States and Britain and France, so that the Americans have to lean towards Britain and France.

When the Germans told the Italians about their plans, the Italian friends were immediately stunned, because they saw a battleship with a tonnage nearly 50 percent larger than the Count Garfort, which is currently in service in Italy! In this plan, the Germans required their ships to be equipped with five twin 15-inch guns, which had to be protected against the attacks of the 15-inch guns, and the speed should be about 22 knots. Although the Italians have always been more radical and are not weaker than the British in terms of battleship design, it is a bit shocking that they are only preparing for such a large battleship in 1907!

But there are also daring Italians, such as Vittorio. After looking at the German design requirements, he thought that if Germany really wanted to build such a warship, it could actually refer to the design of Italy's next-generation capital ship, and adopt a hybrid design concept of twin and triple assembly, which could save the length and weight of the armor belt, and at the same time avoid the main gun located in the amidship of the hull from being affected by boilers or other equipment. However, in order to get the best artillery walk and to disperse as much as possible the fire losses caused by the concentration of the turrets, the Germans still insisted on the design of the five-seat twin. In the eyes of the Germans, this was to acquire combat power with the least possible risk and conservative design, while compensating for it with tonnage and cost. After all, no one knows what the virtues of the double and triple mixed clothes are, but Italy thinks it is good. And Germany does not want to take this risk.

Looking at the Germans who couldn't pull back the nine cows, Vittorio had no choice, so after thinking about it, Vittorio put forward his own suggestion: "Since neither our country nor your country has engaged in the design of the central axis layout of the five-seat twin main guns, and our country does not plan to do so in the future, we suggest that your country experiment on the 14-inch gun carrier ship before making a 15-inch gun carrier, according to your country's plan, your country intends to equip 4 battleships equipped with 8 14-inch guns, I think that if I could, I could stretch the two battleships in the back and equip them with two more 14-inch guns. In order to provide a certain amount of skill accumulation for the final battleship. ”

As a result, the naval optimization strategy within the Central Powers was quickly developed, that is, the Austro-Hungarian Škoda Gun Factory was responsible for the development of German, Austrian, and Italian artillery, and Italy was to help the German Navy develop the battleship that would eventually be named the Prince Bismarck class after completing the design of the next class of battleships. In return, of course, Italy will receive technical and financial support from Germany. As for whether the Italians will be equipped with 15-inch guns, Italy is still very entangled, and having larger warships is the desire of the navy of any country in the world. But whether this can be achieved depends on the availability of sufficient funds.

And this may not be enough for Italy, because Italy, as a part of the Central Powers, must be prepared for the army, even if the government is inclined to the navy, according to Vittorio's estimates, it is already good to build 4 new dreadnoughts in the next 5 years! There really isn't any more money left to start construction and design more powerful warships. And if Vittorio really wants to show his talent thoroughly, I am afraid it will have to be realized on the drawings of the Germans.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward, as well as the monthly ticket of the book friend qwe79 and the evaluation vote of the book friend n2800b617dUDUtro~~. (To be continued......)