"Since December 15, 1901, the first dreadnought warship of the Chinese Republic was put into active service, and it was also the first dreadnought in the world. In the next year or so, the warships ordered by the Republic of China in various countries will be completed one after another, and during this period of time, the Republic of China has become the country with the most dreadnought capital ships in the world! In March 1904, all 7 dreadnoughts from the German Empire, the British Empire and the Kingdom of Italy were finally handed over to the Huaxia Navy, and at this moment, the naval strength of the Huaxia Republic reached the peak in history! IN THE NAVAL CIRCLES OF THAT TIME, SOMEONE USED SUCH A PHRASE TO CALL THESE IRON GODS OF WAR - THEBIGSEVEN! Excerpt from Mahan's A Brief History of the Chinese Fleet.

In July 1903, the second ship of the Longxing-class battleships, the Longwu, was handed over to the Huaxia Navy at the Germania shipyard. On October 7, 1903, the second ship of the Longxu-class battle cruisers, the Longwei, was handed over to the Huaxia Navy at the mouth of the Thames. On February 8, 1904, the officers and men of the Huaxia Navy boarded the Longteng, the second ship of the Longquan-class battleship, and it is of far-reaching significance to name this battleship after Longteng.

"At the end of 1889, a great and mysterious Chinese designer met Mr. Vittorio Cuuniberti here, which was a historic encounter, and from then on, this great designer, together with His Excellency the Count, ushered in a new era in the history of the world's naval history, from the original Thermal (Baidu) Naya light armored cruisers, to the later Garibaldi armored cruisers and PISA-type armored cruisers, and then to the later Dante-class battleships and the battleship Longteng under our feet. The Chinese Navy and the Italian Navy have gone through a total of 15 years. And today on the last capital ship ordered by your country in our country. I hope our friendship will last on. Lin Yingqi, who was in charge of receiving the ship, said at the receiving ceremony.

In order to thank the Kingdom of Italy for its support to the Huaxia Navy and its predecessor, the Beiyang Navy, the Huaxia government specially wrote the word "Longteng" on the nameplate of this capital ship ordered from Italy to show its gratitude. Although the Chinese navy no longer has to rely on Italian industry and shipyards to arm its own navy, the Chinese government still hopes to maintain a good and close relationship with the Italian government. On the one hand, there is historical friendship. On the other hand, it is because there is no essential conflict of interest between the two parties, and there is also a basis for mutual benefit. Therefore, the Huaxia government agreed to name this last capital ship built in the Kingdom of Italy after this slightly controversial name in the country!

And when in March 1904, the last Longteng ordered in a foreign country arrived in Beihai, at this moment, a total of 7 main warships of the Republic of China were gathered on the Beihai! After the last Dragonship has been reequipped with a fire control system, the 7 capital ships will visit the UK and then embark on their return journey! When a Kiel newspaper appeared in the majestic figures of 7 giant dreadnoughts at the same time. The entire world was shocked! For a time, THEBIGSEVEN became synonymous with the highest strength of the navy in this world!

"From this day forward, whether it is the Royal Navy of the British Empire, or the French Navy. Or the newly rising German navy was shocked by this powerful fleet that would eventually sail to the Far East, and at this moment, the country with the most advanced fleet in the world was not a European power. Nor is it the United States on the other side of the ocean. It is an ancient Eastern power, after decades of decadence and hesitation, this dragon coiled in the Far East has finally awakened again, and revisited his territory, and the mighty fleet has served as the dragon's teeth and claws to sweep away all who dare to defy his majesty. The British wrote on the front page of the Times.

Faced with a country that was still weak in 1840, the British vaguely remembered that only a fraction of the Royal Navy's forces could sail freely on the country's coastline, and the British received various commercial incentives from Hong Kong, received reparations, and regarded China as a source of raw materials and dumping of their products. But now. The Huaxia Republic is no longer the old empire that is dying! The current Chinese Republic has not only begun to gradually regain its lost rights, but has also begun to expand its own living space! Now North Asia in the hands of the Russians. And what about later? The British had their own worries and fears in the face of this formidable fleet.

But at the same time, the British could not do without or could not suppress this nascent force, although the Russians had been designated by the British as their future allies, but this ally was obviously not qualified, on the one hand, they were trying to use the power of Britain to resist the Empire, and at the same time they wanted to expand their range of power in the Pacific direction! Although Huaxia is also expanding, Huaxia is far away from Europe after all, and even if Huaxia wants to expand, it must come step by step, and it will not threaten Britain in a short time, so the British need to use Huaxia's strength to educate the Russians, so that the Russians can not do without the support and money of the British, and only in this way can the Russians go all out against Germany!

As for repression? That's what the British are doing at the moment, but alas, it doesn't have much effect, either in terms of means or effects. What means did the British choose? Support the Russians? Now Britain is still thinking about how to make the Russians obedient, even if they support it, they can't have too much force! Economic sanctions? This seems to be a good idea, but now it is a buyer's market, and all major industrial countries have the hidden danger of economic crisis because of overproduction, and you British don't sell and there are Germans and Italians waiting to sell, and you throw away a big market for nothing? No one is stupid enough to be that far. The British, who cut loans or something, thought about it and did it, but soon, the German banks and the Italian banks made up for the financial loopholes caused by the withdrawal of the British, and took an order by the way. It is better to describe this result as harming others and not benefiting oneself!

As for military means? In the heart of the British Empire, as long as the strength of the Chinese Navy does not exceed the Strait of Malacca, then the British Royal Navy will never have a head-on conflict with the Chinese Navy! After all, the entire British fleet was shrinking its forces to deal with the threat from across the North Sea, so what if there was enough strength and mind to manage the far Far East?

For the Germans and Italians, they had great expectations for this fleet, and the 5 warships in this fleet were the crystallization of the industries of the two countries, concentrating their highest level of warship construction! It carries their ambition and hope to compete for the ocean. (Well, in the eyes of the Italians, it is enough to look at the Mediterranean, and the Italians who dominate the ocean or something should think about it!) If, in a future war, this fleet can defeat the Russian warships, it means that the German and Italian warships are more elite than the French, American and Russian warships! They can continue on this path until the day of war!

During this period of time in the North Sea, the Huaxia Fleet was not idle, in the rough sea, the 7 capital ships of the Huaxia Navy completed the first dreadnought marshalling and corresponding tactical actions, including the transition from marching to the battle line, because the three Ninghai-class battleships are no longer, for the time being, there are 3 fast battleships in this position to replace, a total of 7 battleships, 4 battleships in a group, 3 fast battleships in a group. Two side-by-side columns sailed the sea.

After the battle order was issued, the 4 battleships began to accelerate, and turned to open the battle line, at the end of the last battleship, 3 fast battleships quickly connected up, so that the two columns were transformed into a battle line, and the principle of the formation change of the British and German dreadnoughts in Xu Jie's era was the same, from the box formation to the single battle line, but the scale of the Chinese Navy was a little smaller.

In terms of battle grouping, the main fleet of the Huaxia Navy was divided into two large groups, two Longxing-class battleships and two Longquan-class battleships were organized into one first battleship detachment, while the remaining three fast battleships temporarily replaced the Ninghai-class battleships into the second battleship detachment, of which the first detachment had two squads under its jurisdiction and two ships of the same class were one squadron. Battleship detachments were under the direct command of the commander of the main fleet and carried out strategic tasks such as engagement, change formation, or evacuation.

As long as you can complete the orders given by the commander-in-chief of the fleet, then no matter what actions you take, as long as you don't disrupt the formation and don't cause chaos in the fleet, then you can play at your disposal! The commanders of the Huaxia Fleet are all veterans who have experienced the Great War, and they are all superior people in terms of experience and ability, and they are far stronger than the fleet commander Yue Dai, after all, the commander-in-chief of the fleet has more important tasks to do! He needs to think about the entire fleet and naval strategic actions.

For example, in the battle line, the task assigned to the Longquan-class battleship squad is the opponent's two battleships, then the squad commander of the Longquan battleship can choose to concentrate firepower to attack one of the opponent's battleships or distribute the firepower equally, and even if you have spare strength, you can also attack the opponent's other battleships! Fight as you want, as long as you can win! The commander of the first detachment of battleships had to consider how long it would take to complete the mission objectives assigned by the commander-in-chief, and whether there would be other variables. And to give certain advice to the commander-in-chief based on the situation of his own fleet. The commander-in-chief of the fleet, on the other hand, should consider from a strategic point of view, what kind of strategic goals his fleet can achieve after this battle? Are there other threats around? And whether to use the auxiliary fleet when necessary, and how to use the auxiliary fleet, etc., and so on!

During this multi-month foreign training, the Chinese Navy not only carried out marshalling at sea and firing live ammunition, but also carried out high-speed navigation and debugging of various equipment in formation, verified the performance of the new fire control system, and conducted a comprehensive test of the ship's armament, power, and sea trial performance, and gradually adapted the officers and men to navigation and combat in bad sea conditions, thus laying a solid foundation for future operations in Southeast Asia!

Thank you for the light reward from Shuyoushan~~~ (to be continued......)