"In 1581, the seven northern provinces formed the United Republic of the Netherlands, which became the forerunner of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and for more than 200 years, from 1581 to 1795, we had a brilliant history. We used to have fleets that frightened the Spaniards, the French, and even the British, and we had a merchant fleet that was more than normal in Europe. We once built our own city in the New World and named it New Amsterdam. Our ancestors once rode across the ocean and wrote magnificent chapters. And now, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has not only declined into a third-rate country, but even the backward yellow country in the Far East dares to challenge the dignity of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and even covets the largest colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Or fight to the death, while there is still strength to spare? Where to go, I think everyone is shocked and has made a decision, right? ”

In the Dutch parliament, the speech of the Dutch Admiral caused an uproar, in the face of the Admiralty's generous presentation. The bigwigs of the Treasury Department finally could not resist the pressure of the indignant lawmakers and opened their pockets for the Navy's armaments budget. Faced with the behemoth of China, the Dutch finally decided to take a desperate gamble, and almost all the Dutch hoped that the glory of their ancestors could be revived again, and that their descendants could win the war that would determine the fate of a country. The entire state apparatus of the Netherlands has also begun to run at high speed, and within a few years, the Dutch will concentrate all their efforts on dealing with the threat from China. And the passage of the Armaments Act also means that the Dutch procurement of warships and the beginning of a major reorganization of naval armaments!

The Dutch know how to weigh their pounds. If you want to play a decisive battle at sea, 3 Dutch bundles together are not enough for the Huaxia family! The national strength is too weak, and the navy owes too much. The Dutch Navy has now been transformed into a coast guard force. In terms of ship type and structure, the Dutch Navy cannot be compared with the navies of other countries in the world. It's okay to scare others with a 3,000-ton gunboat, but if you want to deal with a powerful regional hegemon-level navy, it's better to wash and sleep.

It is not allowed in terms of strength, and it is not necessary in practice, there is a high top when the sky falls, and the Russians belong to this pillar. They would be tasked with a head-to-head battle with the Chinese Navy, while the Dutch Navy would be tasked with dealing with armored cruisers and battlecruisers, and if necessary, old battleships or badly wounded battleships. In short, the Dutch positioned their navy as a sneak attacker.

And the fast battleships gave the Dutch a very good choice. After carefully comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the battlecruiser and the fast battleship, the Dutch still chose the fast battleship as their main battleship. The reason is simple, the Dutch cherish each of their capital ships. The national strength of the Netherlands determined that it could not have too many capital ships, and as the absolute main force of the dreadnought-type warships. There can only be a maximum of 2 ships. This is already the limit! In the face of this situation, the Dutch still feel that speed is more important than armor, and sometimes speed cannot be played, but the armor plates of the side chord are really strong!

WHEN IT CAME TO THE CHOICE OF THE DESIGN, THE DUTCH FINALLY CHOSE THE FRENCH SCHEME OF THE CENTRAL AXIS LAYOUT OF 8 274MM GUNS. And the displacement was enlarged to 20,000 tons. This was already the largest tonnage warship that the Dutch East Indies could maintain. The Dutch did not choose American goods, for the simple reason that the Netherlands itself did not have the capacity to produce all kinds of accessories needed for dreadnoughts, if something went wrong. It is necessary to import relevant equipment from the United States, and France is next to the Netherlands. Imports are naturally easier to secure. The Russians, on the other hand, can copy the techniques of other countries, perhaps not as good as the original, but at least they can be used.

The French carried out a thorough optimization of the ship at the behest of the Dutch, first abandoning the inward tilt of the original French battleship in favor of an outboard broadboard, and simplifying the superstructure to reduce weight. The castle-like shape of the French warships, which used to be full of illegal buildings, has disappeared and has become very simple and smooth. And because the Dutch were designed to fight in the Java Sea, the requirements in terms of range were not high. In terms of protection, the Dutch also improved their thinking, and did not lay armor on the elongated bow tower, but all used pseudo-turrets to fly secondary guns to reduce the protection area.

In order to achieve the highest possible speed with as little power weight as possible, the Dutch decided to use the flying shear head. And with the use of kerosene mixed boilers, it is difficult for the Russians to supply the fuel consumption of a large fleet, but the Dutch can still supply fuel for several warships, so that in terms of cost and weight, the Dutch warships have a certain advantage over the Russians.

IN TERMS OF OVERALL PROTECTION, THE DUTCH REQUIREMENTS WERE TO ENSURE THE PROTECTION OF IMPORTANT PARTS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, WITH THE THICKNESS OF THE MAIN ARMOR BELT 280MM AND REACHING A HEIGHT OF 3 METERS, AND THE UPPER ARMOR WEAKENED TO 100MM. ENHANCED PROTECTION OF THE TURRET AND TURRETS, THE FRONTAL TURRET REACHED 320MM. THE GUN MOUNT REACHED 300MM. It can be said that such protection was already immune to the penetration of any naval guns of the same period. (Breakdown is impossible, but failure is still possible.) At the same time, in order to prevent the detonation of ammunition caused by the breakdown of the turret sides, the Dutch forbade the storage of ammunition in the turret, and at the same time a double fire door was set up in the ammunition delivery channel. THE ARMOR PROTECTION AT THE HEAD AND TAIL HAS ALSO BEEN REDUCED TO A 100MM DEFENSE LEVEL. THERE WAS NO HORIZONTAL ARMOR, AND THE INCLINED INTERVIEW OF THE DOME ARMOR WAS 80MM. THE HORIZONTAL PLANE IS 60MM.

The most noteworthy is the ship's underwater protection, which depends on two factors, one is whether the TDS has enough depth and space to accommodate the high-pressure bubbles generated by the explosion of explosives. The other is whether the steel plate under the water can withstand the impact of high-speed fragments. And in both respects, the Dutch did a good job, first of all, the TDS reached a depth of about 3.5 meters. Secondly, the entire battleship TDS compartment was divided into two floors, one was an empty compartment, which was designed to accommodate high-pressure bubbles from the explosion. THE OTHER IS THE OIL TANK, WHICH CAN REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF WATER EVEN IF IT IS FLOODED, AND BETWEEN THE EMPTY TANK AND THE TANK, THERE IS A LAYER OF MINE-RESISTANT ARMOR MADE OF HIGHLY ELASTIC STEEL WITH A THICKNESS OF 30MM.

And on the powertrain. The fast ships were made of French boilers, but the British agreed to provide steam turbines for the Netherlands! This made many people at the time puzzled, neither the French nor the Russians, there was no equivalent, the British would do this, but in any case, the provision of new engines allowed the Dutch to once again surpass the allies the Russians in terms of power. As a result, the rated engine output of this class of warships has reached 28,000 horsepower, and the speed will be about 23 knots!

It can be said that this class of battleships can almost be called the pinnacle of the time in terms of fire protection and speed! Compared with the two battle cruisers built by Beiyang in Britain, it was not much more than that. The Chinese Navy built a battle cruiser in Britain of similar tonnage. IN TERMS OF FIREPOWER, THE HUAXIA NAVY'S SIDE FIREPOWER IS 6 TO 8 12-INCH 45L HEAVY GUNS, WHICH IS SLIGHTLY STRONGER THAN THE EIGHT 274MM GUNS. But in terms of broadside protection. The thickness of the main armor belt was much inferior. Neither side was capable of sending shells into the other's core compartment, but the Dutch battleships were able to penetrate the broadside mains of the Chinese Navy. The turret and gun mount protection of the two ships were similar.

IN TERMS OF UNDERWATER PROTECTION, THE HUAXIA NAVY IS SLIGHTLY STRONGER, AND THE UNDERWATER PROTECTION DESIGN OF THE HUAXIA NAVY REFERS TO THE MULTI-LAYER THIN STEEL PLATE PROTECTION PRINCIPLE OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR, AND SEVERAL LAYERS OF THIN STEEL PLATES OF ABOUT 15MM ARE SET UP BEFORE THE MAIN STEEL PLATE TO ABSORB ENERGY. In terms of drainage, the Huaxia Navy is equipped with more pumping machines. In terms of firepower maintenance, although there are some problems with the firing range of the gun in the quadrangular layout, it can at least ensure that the gun will not be incapacitated due to collateral damage. The Dutch battleship, on the other hand, had two turrets in the bow that were a little too close to each other, and the stern was better, with an auxiliary engine room added between the two turrets. Similar to the choice of the Huaxia Navy.

The Dutch had 120,000 expectations for this class of battleships, and named this class of battleships the Seven Provincial Fast Battleships. To commemorate the founding of the Netherlands, but also to commemorate the great achievements of the Dutch. The two battleships, which were named Seven Provinces and Amsterdam, respectively. will become the absolute workhorse of the Dutch Navy.

And in order to match these two fast battleships, the Dutch planned to build several more armored cruisers. And in terms of the choice of armored cruisers. The Dutch actually came to an agreement with the Russians. In order to reduce costs, the Dutch and Russians chose a similar design scheme at the same time, and in the future new armored cruisers, the Dutch and Russians decided to use the original of the same standard, for example, the main guns were copied by the Russian 10-inch 45L main gun. The number of main guns is also 6 to 8 10-inch guns, with a tonnage of between 13,000 and 15,000 tons. The Dutch planned to build 2 ships, while the Russians planned to build 4 ships. As soon as the order for 6 brand-new armored cruisers was thrown, the world was shocked.

"The Russians and the Dutch are finally coming together." Xu Jie smiled bitterly. I have to say that the explosiveness of these two countries really made Xu Jie feel great pressure. Judging from the current intelligence, the Russians and the Dutch have planned to build 4 fast capital ships, plus 6 new armored cruisers. In terms of fast warships, the Dutch plan has been finalized, and the Russians' plan is also in full swing.

The 4 dreadnought fast battleships of the Huaxia Navy can indeed suppress the opponent's 4 fast capital ships, but in terms of secondary warships, neither the former King class nor the PISA class is enough to deal with the newly built armored cruisers of the Russians and the Dutch, not to mention the performance problem, even the mechanical losses caused after service have greatly reduced the actual combat capability of these warships! Coupled with the ultra-long combat distance, if this is really a fast fleet and the other side meet, it is really difficult to say whether the two sides will win or lose!

Thank you for the reward of the constellations that soar in the universe~~~. (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )