Li Fushou's fierce reaction was completely expected, and Lord Hugh-Howard had the potential to develop from a small yin coin to an old silver coin, and shrugged helplessly at the first time;

Don't ask me, I don't know wow!

"I can't believe that this is a misinterpretation of the original meaning, a trampling on a sincere respect for Her Majesty, Joe, don't tell me you don't know." Li Fushou was extremely angry, seven points false and three points true.

Lord Hugh Howard smiled awkwardly and said; "Don't do that, Lee, let's all be sensible, you can see it as a deal that is very good for you, the Royal Navy will prove that it is all worth it, we really need this type of battleship."

"Deal?" Li Fushou screamed loudly as if he had been stabbed, and said with an angry look on his face;

"I do not allow such words to insult respect to Her Majesty the Queen, Joe, I present a celebratory gift with a sincere and thankful heart, which is as flawless as white jade, and condenses the reverence of myself and the wider Queensland people......

"Allow me to interrupt, Lee, we both know what's going on, please don't defile my ears again, let's be sane ......"

"Shut up, Hugh, if you continue to be so offensive, I will not recognize you as Special Representative of the Admiralty, and I will never allow you to talk about it in such an arrogant tone, it will never be a deal, never."

Li Fushou's attitude was categorical and irrefutable, which made the atmosphere in the living room tense all of a sudden.

The two dignitaries clashed, and Sir William White and Professor Alan Johnson could only stare at each other, unable to interject at all.

"Okay okay, I apologize for what I said wrong, it's never a deal." Lord Hugh Howard felt the difficulty of the other side, and it was really stormy.

This is obviously a transaction, but the other party refuses to admit it, he can only throw his chips and say; "Out of gratitude, the Royal Navy's South Pacific Task Force will be stationed in Port Moresby, Shangri-La Island, what do you think of the conditions?"

This means that the Royal Navy will endorse the rights and interests of Shangri-La, and those who defy it will have to weigh its own weight, including the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

If that's the case

It is believed that the Kingdom of the Netherlands will soon succumb to the fact that Shangri-La Island is the first land discovered and possessed by the Earl of Queensland, and accept it as a precondition for peace talks, so as to achieve a breakthrough in peace talks.

From now on, the sovereignty of Shangri-La Island will no longer be in dispute.

You see, the friendship of the Royal Navy of the British Empire works so well, sending a few old and broken warships to the harbor, no one in the world dares to disagree.

"We welcome the Royal Navy fleet to ports at any time, including Shangri-La Island, and are optimistic about that." Li Fushou's answer was full of diplomatic password-like tone, and he was not satisfied with such conditions.

I thank you for a hammer! Didn't know where it was a few months ago?

Now that the dust has settled, come and pick up ready-made bargains, the British Empire Colonial Department has already issued an announcement last year, why didn't you see your fleet stationed?

"I would be grateful if the fleet could be stationed in Samarinda and the port of Malchen and bring peace to the current turbulent situation in the East Indies." Li Fushou quietly put forward his own conditions.

Compared to Shangri-La, where the dust has settled, Borneo, which is currently under the clouds of war, is the focus of attention.

If he could take advantage of the power of the Royal Fleet of the British Empire, Li Fushou really didn't mind doubling the 1 million ship purchase funds.

Sammarinda is the capital of Borneo, which is located on the coast of East Kalimantan Province, which is the center of Dutch colonization in Borneo, and is also the political, economic and military center of East Kalimantan Province.

It's a symbolic port city, and it's not as simple as it seems.

The port of Malchen is the capital city of South Kalimantan and is also very important.

Even if the Royal Navy fleet of the British Empire threw a broken sampan into it, the Governor's Office of the Dutch East Indies would have to think twice about whether it was brave enough to continue fighting?

Lord Hugh-Howard was stunned when he heard this, and could not help laughing bitterly, he had not been authorized before he came, and had no right to agree to such conditions; "Lee, the Dutch have been operating in Borneo for more than 200 years and we can't ignore all of this."

"Hehe, so you can't convince me."

"There's always a solution, Lee, and we can take a look at Sir William White's ingenious design, which I've had the privilege of admiring in advance on the Kolkata cruise to Sydney, and I'm sure you'll love it too."

"The Royal Navy likes it, right? Queensland doesn't need such a megaship. ”

"Lee, I can assure you that this class of ships is definitely worthy of your attention, I have had an in-depth conversation with Sir William White, this class of ships contains his thinking about ship design for many years, using a unique high freeboard design to deal with the world's sea areas, including the Atlantic Ocean, and the use of the main gun along the axis of the battleship, the arrangement of thickened main armor belt, with the strength beyond the current level of ironclad battleships, it is really very good, it is simply an incomparable wonderful gift...... ”

Lord Hugh Howard's chattering recommendation set off a shocking storm in Li Fushou's heart, could it be that the former dreadnought was born ahead of schedule?

He set his eyes on the ship's design drawings hanging on the wall, and the technical indicators marked on them were clear at a glance.

The design displacement of this class is 8800 tons, and the full load displacement is 9660 tons.

It has two main turrets, one front and one aft arranged along the central axis, equipped with a new twin 305 mm main gun, which can fire armor-piercing shells with smokeless gunpowder, and the penetration ability is greatly improved compared with the previous 135-inch gun, and the weight is greatly reduced.

The biggest advantage of this way of arranging the ship's main guns is that the shooting stability is greatly enhanced, the impact of the main turret on the ship's roll when firing is reduced, and it is conducive to exerting all the firepower on the left and right sides, with a wide field of vision and a small shooting dead angle.

This arrangement allows the main turret to adjust the firing angle more freely, and allows all the main guns to fire in the same direction, thereby increasing the density of the ship's firepower.

The main armor belt of this class is 426 mm at its thickest point and 102 mm at its thinnest point, the front thickness of the main turret is 402 mm, the frontal thickness of the secondary turret is 122 mm, the thickness of the command tower is 254 mm around it, and the deck thickness is 70~76 mm.

Such protection far exceeds that of ironclad ships, compared with the first-class ironclad ship Dingyuan ship, which is known as "Asia's first giant ship";

The armor thickness of the ironclad fort of the Dingyuan ship is 355 on the waterline, 305 under the waterline, 304 for the 305 gun mount, 15 for the gun shield, and 203 for the command tower.

This armor protection data is quasi-first-class among first-class ironclad ships, and it is comprehensively inferior to ships of this class, and the difference is not half a star.

In particular, it is worth noting;

Sir William White used the latest Harvey steel armor plate in the design, which is a high-hardness carburized armor steel, and the armor protection is 771 higher than the previous generation, and the protection has been amazingly improved, it is simply an impenetrable armored fortress.

In other words, it's more expensive.

Finally, there is also a breakthrough change in the maneuverability of the ship, although the same class of ships and ironclad ships also use coal-fired steam engines, but the boiler technology used is more advanced than that of ironclad ships, which can make quasi-10,000-ton warships run at a speed of nearly 20 knots, which is a very amazing achievement.

In this day and age

The main steam ironclad warships of the Royal Navy of the British Empire generally have a speed of between 13 and 15 knots, and first-class ironclad ships such as Zhenyuan and Dingyuan can only run at a speed of 15 knots at most when the tonnage is less than 1,500 tons.

The adoption of so many new design ideas, new technologies and new materials has made a qualitative leap in the combat effectiveness of this class of ships, and its strength has crushed its peers.

The immediate consequence of this is that it is expensive, which is almost self-evident.

How does this class of ships look like a shrunken version of the "Majesty" class battleship, but the "Majesty" class battleship is a behemoth with a full load displacement of 16,000 tons, and it will take at least 10 years to be born, what is going on?

After a careful look and hearing Sir William White's detailed solution design ideas, Li Fushou suddenly realized;

The design concept of this type of ship was not born ten years later, but has long been considered and matured, just waiting for the time to put it into practice.

The British Empire has a large number of outstanding naval designers, and there are no less than three top naval designers who can compete with Sir William White, and there are even more outstanding young and middle-aged designers.

The opportunity to receive a design commission from the Admiralty and serve as the chief designer of a first-class battleship is precious, and many outstanding designers are eagerly awaiting, symbolizing the pinnacle of their careers.

Even a big name in the industry like Sir William White needs to participate in the design selection competition, and the opportunity is rare.

It turns out that this class of ships is really the initial first version of the "Majestic" class battleship, which contains Sir William White's deep thinking about ship design for many years, so as to make innovative design practices, all applied to this new ship, this special sister is an experimental version of the idea.

Due to the limited design displacement, only one main turret was designed in the bow and one stern, using twin 305 mm main guns, and after the hull was greatly shortened, it was impossible to arrange as many as 12 152 mm secondary guns, 16 76 mm secondary guns, and 14 47 mm secondary guns. As a result, the secondary artillery firepower was significantly reduced.

Also due to the limitation of displacement, the thickness of the main armor belt was reduced, the coal bunkers were reduced, and the power plant was reduced, and the super-battleship was stiffly reduced from the originally conceived super battleship to a heavy cruiser.

After listening to them ramble for a long time, Li Fushou asked the core question; "It seems that this ship is really good, how much does it cost?"

Belch......

Lord Hugh Howard froze, and he glanced at Sir William White, his gaze urging him to answer the question.

Sir William White hesitated and replied; "The design of this class of ships uses a lot of new technology and equipment, especially the use of expensive Harvey armor steel plates, so the cost of the ship may be higher......"

"How much higher?"

"Probably...... Well, according to rigorous calculations, the cost of the first ship is about 660,000 pounds, and the cost of subsequent ships will drop a little ......"

Sir William White didn't finish his words, and Li Fushou had already stood up with a black face and walked away.

Are you kidding?

It's just a stupid boy, is Lao Tzu's money blown by the wind?

。