Since its unification, Taranto has been the most important military port in Italy, so the navy has invested a lot in Taranto over the years. In addition to normal military facilities, these investments are also invested in technology research and development, so Taranto now has many research institutes and equipment factories.

In addition, these scientific research institutions have promoted the research and development of new equipment and new technologies for the Italian Navy, so Taranto is not only a simple military port, but also a naval base camp.

Therefore, Viscount Coniberti, the chief designer of the navy of the Kingdom of Italy, will also come here from time to time, because this is the main research and development base for various new technologies of the navy. As the chief designer of the Navy, Kuniberti also has his own office in Taranto. Because the Naval Ship Design Institute is also located in Taranto.

"Damn, it's so unreliable, it's postponed again."

Pushing away the Navy's warship design institute, Kuniberti complained all the way.

And his words made the other people in the battleship design institute widen their eyes and look at the chief designer, who had provoked the best battleship designer in Italy at the moment.

"Teacher, what's wrong?"

Unlike the others, Prese, a student of Cuniberti, only came in the door and asked with concern after he returned to his office.

For his own teacher, Prese has great respect for him, because it is precisely because of his teacher's value that he can become a battleship designer.

You know, there aren't too many people who want to be gifted Kuniberti students. As long as he shouts loudly that he wants to accept students, there will definitely be a long queue in front of the design office, and designers from all over the world want to ask him for advice. Especially after the completion of the dreadnought and the installation of cruises, it established the teacher's lofty position in the world warship design community.

And so far, there is only one student who can become a teacher, and that is he Prese. In some ways, he is proud of himself, so in some things he is completely different from the others.

And his guess was right, and he was still more patient with his students' inquiries. "Pedros has broken his promise again, and he has delayed the design of the 350-mm naval gun."

As soon as Plese heard the teacher's words, he immediately understood the teacher's feelings, and immediately picked up a sentence. "This Mr. Pedros from the Naval Artillery Research Institute, this is the second time that he has broken his promise, and the top brass of the Navy has not said anything?"

"Why didn't you say that the navy has informed him that if it continues to be extended next time, then the navy needs to consider the necessity of the existence of the naval artillery research institute."

Kuniberti's words made Preser also feel shocked, but he didn't expect the navy to say such serious things.

"Teacher, why is the Navy so eager?"

Gu Xuan

When asked by his student, Kuniberti replied. "There are two reasons for this, the external reason is that a large number of new dreadnoughts are currently being built in various countries, and the navy wants to ensure that the performance of its own warships continues to be in the lead. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a warship that can suppress the dreadnoughts of various countries. That's why we received such high requirements from the Navy for new battleships. ”

As a man who designed a number of epoch-making warships for the Italian Navy, Cuniberti accurately judged the needs of the navy. At present, all countries in the world are building dreadnoughts on a large scale, and the Italian Navy is far inferior to other countries in numbers.

Take the British Empire as an example, in the two fiscal years of 1905 and 1906, it began to build two types of dreadnoughts of the Bellerophon class and the St. Vincent class. It is said that next year, the British Empire will allocate funds to build three more ships, and the momentum of the world's first navy is not comparable at all.

In addition to this, the British Empire decided in 1906 that construction of four Invincible-class battlecruisers would begin within two years. And this cruiser is also very different from the history, first of all, in terms of speed, the new Invincible class can run at a speed of 26 knots, and in terms of firepower, it is also eight 305mm naval guns. Its goal is clear: to deal with the threat from the trilateral patrols of Italy, Germany and the United States.

After all, this kind of warship, the British Empire saw at a glance that it was a great threat to the sea routes, so the British Empire must have enough warships with the same performance.

In addition to the British Empire, countries such as France, which was under great pressure on land, Russia that was defeated in the Far East, Austria-Hungary, which lacked maritime interests, and Japan, which had just become a great power, also had a great desire for dreadnoughts. They are either preparing a design or working on a construction plan. Anyway, in this shipbuilding race at sea, no one wants to give up the trident of Poseidon the god of the sea, and all countries have participated to a greater or lesser extent.

For his teacher's words, Plese, as a member of the designers, is of course aware of the recent situation, so after facing the fact that the navies of various countries have launched dreadnoughts, how can the Italian Navy, as the initiator of dreadnoughts, retreat.

At present, the Italian Navy has two plans, one is to launch an improved version of the Dante class. For the improved version of the Dante-class dreadnought, the naval warship design had many options, from the standard 8 305mm guns to the most exaggerated 12, which was the result of the hard work of Kuniberti and his colleagues in the design department.

As for the second option, it is to build a dreadnought that can suppress the existence of dreadnoughts under construction in various countries. Since you want to suppress the dreadnoughts of various countries, you must use more powerful guns in terms of vital firepower.

Among them, the first choice is the 350 mm 45 times main gun jointly developed by Germany, Italy and Austria. This artillery was launched as early as after the successful development of the 305 mm 45 times main gun, although after years of research, the three countries underestimated the difficulty of the research of the 350 mm 45 times naval gun.

The research work, which was supposed to be completed in 1906, has been delayed until the current 1907, and it has actually bounced again.

Of course, the navy is not short of 350 mm guns, because in addition to the option of increasing the caliber, the navy can also choose to increase the multiple. At present, the research work of the 305-mm 50-fold main gun jointly researched by the three countries has been completed, and the firing results of the sample gun are not bad, and in the absence of a second option, then the Italian Navy is not unable to use this long-barreled 305-mm gun as the main gun of the new generation of dreadnoughts.

In fact, the research and development of this long-barreled 305 mm main gun mainly depends on Germany and Austria, and the technology of the two arsenals of Krupp and Skoda is still very powerful, and its research and development work is progressing very smoothly.

For this reason, the Italian Navy also complained that the main research of the two countries on naval guns was focused on the long-barreled 305 mm naval guns, rather than focusing on the larger caliber 350 mm.

However, the current situation is not unacceptable for Kuniberti, because as a good battleship designer, designing an excellent battleship will come up with different plans according to different situations. And the battleship with a long-barreled 305 mm main gun, although far less deterrent than the 350 mm, is not so unacceptable in the absence of other means.