In the endless sea, a neat and beautiful warship is sailing in the water, the towering towers and the huge cannons of Wuwei all show its strength, leaving a trail of water behind the ship.

It was the only Italian battleship that could stand up for it, and on this most powerful Italian ship was a large number of U.S. naval officers.

"This ship is really fast."

An officer of the U.S. Navy praised the battleship under his feet while feeling the oncoming sea breeze.

Since the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy has taken the importance of speed very seriously. Not to mention anything else, the battleships built over the years, regardless of their performance, have no speed lower than 18 knots.

Among them, the Virginia-class battleships, which were launched two years ago, have become the top three fastest dreadnoughts among the previous dreadnoughts of various countries with a maximum speed of 20 knots. The U.S. Navy has shifted dramatically from a strong emphasis on defense to a strong emphasis on speed.

However, there is nothing wrong with the US Navy attaching importance to the speed of the cruise, and the Americans, who straddle two oceans, really need to pay attention to the speed of their warships, and if they still pay attention to protection as before, then there is something wrong.

In addition to the speed, this group of American naval officers was very curious about everything on the Intrepid, especially when the Intrepid fired a salvo, which caused these Yankees to make a fuss.

"Vice Admiral Hilma, your country's Dreadnought is truly an epoch-making warship, with a perfect combination of firepower, protection, and speed. Its appearance directly changed the shipbuilding plans of the navies of various countries, and all the warships built before were swept into the garbage heap. ”

Rear Admiral Sperry knows the Navy very well, and he can praise the Intrepid so tirelessly, also because this battleship is indeed outstanding, and in the two years since its inception, there must have been pictures of the ship on the tables of the top brass of various navies.

At least Rear Admiral Sperry knows that the ship has the most photos in the US Navy.

"Your Excellency Sperry is polite, this ship is mainly designed and promoted by our country's Viscount Kuniberti, so there is this battleship."

In the face of Vice Admiral Hilma's polite words, Sperry just listened to it, how could such a major event that decided to build a ship be promoted by the designers themselves, even the genius Viscount Kuniberti could not do it. He did not look down on the world-famous Viscount Cuniberti, on the contrary, he was very envious of the appearance of such a talented designer of warships in the Italian Navy.

But building a ship is too expensive, and it requires the consent of both the navy and the government, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to rely on an individual unless he is the leader of a country.

And Sperry's trip, in addition to visiting this purpose, the intrepid battleship is also one of the purposes.

It must be said here that at present, the United States is also following the trend of building its own dreadnought, South Carolina-class battleships. The ship is 141 meters long, 24.5 meters wide, has a draft of 7.5 meters, and has a standard displacement of 16,500 tons. It is equipped with 4 305 mm 45 x diameter twin guns (two in the front and two in the rear, knapsack), 22 76 mm 50 x diameter single guns, and 2 533 mm underwater torpedo tubes.

The main engine is 2 sets of vertical four-cylinder three-expansion reciprocating steam engines/2 shafts, and the main boiler: 12 Babcock coal-fired water-tube boilers, power: 18,500 horsepower, and the maximum speed is 19 knots.

The performance of this battleship, no matter how you look at it, is too different from the Italian Dreadnought. Not to mention the displacement, the length of the ship is also much shorter. After finding and installing four twin-mounted main turrets, there are not many cabins left for the power part, not to mention the three-expansion reciprocating steam engine still used by the US Navy, which makes the ship unable to play its due combat effectiveness.

Therefore, on the side of the US Navy, they are very dissatisfied with the South Carolina-class dreadnought that their own designers have come up with, and they are even more eager to keep up with the world trend. In this case, then the US Navy needs to find another way, and it just so happens that the US Great White Fleet is sailing around the world, so it is reasonable to visit Italy and directly experience the performance of this Dreadnought.

And the Italian side is also very cooperative, taking the American officers to experience the performance of a real dreadnought. So after returning to Naples that day, a secret telegram was sent from Naples to the United States. This led to the third day, Admiral Yagil, the Admiralty-Chancellor, hurrying to find Carlo.

"Your Majesty, this is a request from the Americans to buy our warships and technology."

Speaking of the Secretary of the Navy, there will be a list, which is a list of warships that the United States wants to procure.

Carlo took the list and looked at it, but his brow furrowed at the first glance.

"Just a Dante-class battleship and a Taranto-class battlecruiser?"

Gu Lian

Faced with Carlo's somewhat doubtful words, Admiral Yagill nodded a little uneasily.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Although the price of the two battleships was also high (a Dante-class battleship was 60 million lire for the Americans, and 75 million lire for Taranto), the Americans asked Italy to take a full set of drawings for the two ships, which made Carlo feel a little worthless.

If you want to say that countries like Brazil and Argentina buy it like this, then Carlo will decide to sell it, but the United States is different. Not to mention the local tyrants, the key is that the shipbuilding strength of the United States itself is not much worse than that of Europe.

So in the face of this offer, Carlo banged on the table to think about the pros and cons.

The positive factor is that Italy will earn a sum of money, which can be used to expand its army.

As for the disadvantages, it is also obvious that this will raise the level of shipbuilding in the United States, which will not be conducive to a major war in Europe in the future.

Of course, this may be a bit of an exaggeration of Italy's role, but it is. At present, although the industrial scale of the United States far exceeds that of European countries, its technological level is much worse than that of Europe. In recent years, the United States has purchased a large number of precision instruments and various technologies from European countries. However, in terms of military technology, European countries actually have a tacit understanding to shield the United States.

You can see that even in World War II, the United States, which had experienced a large number of high-skilled immigrants from various countries, was able to catch up with Europe in terms of its technological level. Not to mention the fact that at present, the United States is still in the stage of a primary industrial country. Therefore, in the face of the request of the United States to purchase technology, Carlo had to consider it carefully.

Of course, even without the help of Italy, the United States will definitely be able to build dreadnoughts, but there is only a slight difference in performance compared with Europe.

"In this way, the battleship is separated from the technology, and if it is less than two hundred million lira, we will not consider selling the technology. You can also ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help. ”

After thinking about it for a while, Carlo made a request. If you don't sell at a high price, how can you be embarrassed to break the tacit understanding of various countries, although Italy has already made an exception, but it is too much. If you give less, then the rules are the rules.

In the face of Carlo's reply, Admiral Yagill had a bottom in his heart.

This was followed by a difficult negotiation between Italy and the United States on the sale of warships and technology, with the intervention of the Navy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the face of the 200 million lira demanded by the Italian lion, although the United States has money, the money is not blown by the wind, and it is also fighting with reason.

Even the negotiator, the US ambassador to Italy, Johns, offered to buy only the technology of the Battle Cruiser. However, the U.S. demand was directly rejected, and the Italian side insisted on either buying them all or not buying them.

Italy also has the confidence to dare to say this; first, it is the only country that dares to sell dreadnoughts and the technology of patrolling, and second, the Italian Navy has judged that although the United States' demand for new warship technology is not as urgent as the last time, it is not dispensable.

In fact, the judgment of the Italian Navy is correct, and the United States really urgently wants the new warship technology. In particular, the technology of loading and patrolling is the hottest for the US Navy.

The reason is very simple, the battle patrol is the nemesis of the current patrol of various countries, and it is simply the perfect weapon for those who want to seize a large number of interests in South America from European countries.

After a month or so, the United States finally relented and purchased a Dante-class battleship, a Taranto-class cruiser, and a full set of technology for both ships at a price of $40 million.

While the two countries were negotiating a deal on warships and technology, the U.S. Great White Fleet had already completed its visit to European countries and embarked on a voyage back to the Americas.

In general, the visit of the American Great White Fleet was a success. It demonstrated the prestige of the U.S. Navy to the rest of the world. The voyage was also a practical test of the endurance of the American warship, the reliability of its mechanical mechanisms, and the quality and endurance of its crew.