"Ladies and gentlemen, our country currently needs the help of two allies in the navy."

Speaking at this time was Admiral Matthaus Yagier, Minister of the Italian Admiralty.

The pressure on this admiral is not small, because Italy's main area of operation is in the Mediterranean, so the requirements for the navy are very high, and it is difficult for Italy to complete it alone. So Italy needs the cooperation between the navies of the three countries to make a difference in the Mediterranean.

"First of all, on the formation of the Mediterranean Fleet, we, the Italian Navy, hope that the Austro-Hungarian Navy will transfer from Trieste to Taranto. This will greatly enhance the deployment of our two navies, and we have prepared berths and other facilities for your country in Taranto to meet the needs of your warships and naval officers. ”

As soon as Admiral Yagill opened his mouth, he was talking about the formation of a joint fleet of Italy and Austria.

Because the strength of the Italian navy is good against either of Britain and France, but if the two are united, then Italy may not be able to resist in terms of strength.

At present, Italy has only 14 dreadnought warships, 1 Dreadnought (also counted in the Dante class), 4 Dante-class, 4 Cavour-class, 3 Taranto-class battlecruisers, and 2 Milan-class battlecruisers.

The French dreadnoughts have 4 Lone class battleships in service, and as for more dreadnoughts, there are currently only three Brittany-class battleships still in dock. This is a battleship that the French government gritted its teeth and picked out. Seeing that the strong strength of the Italian Navy has seriously affected France's security in the Mediterranean, and more than half of France's foreign trade needs to start from the Mediterranean, so in the face of public opinion from all walks of life, the French government, which had planned to focus on land, gritted its teeth and started construction of three ships last year.

However, at present, it is difficult to even get into the water, and as for the service, only God knows.

If the French navy is not powerful, the Allies can only count on Britain for their maritime strength in the Mediterranean. And the British Mediterranean Fleet, which was entrusted with great responsibility, was not weak.

At present, the British Mediterranean Fleet has 13 dreadnoughts, including 2 St. Vincent-class battleships (the ship was urgently built by the British after learning about the data of the Dreadnought after the Italian Dreadnought was launched), 2 Elephant-class ships, 2 Aries ships, 2 King George V-class ships, and 2 Invincible-class ships (this class was built after the news of the construction of the Italian Taranto-class was built under the strong promotion of the Minister of the Sea Firscher, which is different from history, and has a certain strengthening in armor and speed, 4 ships were built in this class), 1 ship in the Indefatigable class, and 2 ships in the Lion class.

In terms of strength, the British Empire

As for why the strength of the British Mediterranean fleet has grown so fast, in addition to the fact that the number of dreadnoughts built by Britain in recent years has a lot to do with it.

Beginning in 1908, Britain built more than six dreadnoughts each year, and in 1910 it reached eight. It is worthy of being the world hegemon with deep pockets, and he is quite willing to invest in the navy.

Since Britain and France outnumbered Italy, Italy had to be replenished, or else they would have to compete with them for control of the Mediterranean. Fortunately, the Austro-Hungarian Navy still has four Combined Forces class ships that can be a complementary force for Italy.

As long as the four Roman-class ships enter service next year, Italy will surpass Britain and France in the Mediterranean Sea in terms of the number and quality of warships.

As for Admiral Yagill's words, Count Berchtold, Foreign Minister, who was the chief Austro-Hungarian negotiator in this negotiation, spoke after consulting with the Chief of the General Staff, Admiral Hezendorf. "Yes, our navy accepts your country's conditions and transfers the main forces of the navy to Taranto."

Well, it can be seen from Berchtold's discussion with the Chief of the Army General Staff on the transfer of the navy that the gap between the position of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in its army is the largest among the three countries.

Now that the Austro-Hungarian Navy has negotiated on its side, the next step is to talk to the German Navy.

"Field Marshal Tirpitz, our country needs your navy to hold back the British home fleet and avoid the great pressure on our country caused by its reinforcement in the Mediterranean."

Admiral Yagill spoke of the previous agreement with the German Navy.

This is part of the mutually collaborative programme agreed between the two countries two years ago in the second Moroccan crisis.

"Admiral Yagill, our navy is of course obliged to meet your country's requirements. However, if we want to involve the British Home Fleet, but the port of Kiel, where our High Seas Fleet is located, needs to go around Jutland, which will delay the response speed of our High Seas Fleet. It will only take three months for the widening of the Kiel Canal to be completed, and then our High Seas Fleet will be ready to deal with the British fleet from the North Sea. ”

The Kiel Canal, in Tirpitz, is an artificial canal dug by Germany in 1887. The main thing was to allow the German Navy to avoid bypassing Jutland and shorten the naval response to threats between the Baltic and North Seas. It stretches from the port of Brunsbittcock at the mouth of the Elbe to the west to the port of Holt in the Bay of Kiel to the northeast. The opening of the Kiel Canal significantly shortened the distance between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, 370 nautical miles less than the detour through the Øresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak Strait.

However, at the beginning, the navigable capacity of the Kiel Canal was only 20,000 tons, which was enough for German warships at that time. However, in the twentieth century, as warships became larger and larger, the navigable capacity of the Kiel Canal was obviously insufficient, so Germany began to expand the canal in 1906, and so far, the canal has not been completed, and it is expected that it will take another three months to complete.

Therefore, the port of Kiel, where the German navy was located, was much slower to respond to the threat from the North Sea, after all, it was necessary to bypass Jutland.

For Tirpitz's words, Admiral Yagill frowned.

"Your Excellency Tirpitz, if you want our country to open up the situation in the Mediterranean, the navy is the most important of them, and if Britain continues to send warships to the Mediterranean, the fleet jointly formed by our country and Austria-Hungary will not be able to cope with it."

It is clear that Admiral Yagill was not satisfied with Tirpitz's answer.

Faced with the dissatisfaction of the Italian side, Prime Minister Holwig played a round.

"Admiral Yagill, Your Excellency Tirpitz did not mean this, and we also know the importance of the Mediterranean Sea to the Three Kingdoms. It can be said that more than half of the goods of Britain and France need to go through this sea area, so of course we also think that the sea power in the Mediterranean is in our hands, which will greatly improve the victory rate of our three countries. Tirpitz is merely informing your country of our difficulties, not shirking responsibility. I think Marshal Tirpitz agrees with that. ”

In the face of the prime minister's relief, Tirpitz certainly knows what to say.

"Yes, I do not want to shirk the responsibility of our Navy, but to state an objective fact. Of course, our high seas fleet will continue to send warships to attack and harass, so that the British home fleet will not dare to leave its surrounding waters. ”

Tirpitz's words made Admiral Yagill look much better. After all, they are challenging Britain's sea power for hundreds of years, and if they don't work together, how can they fight.

With the conclusion of the issue of naval cooperation, the final pre-war meeting of the three countries has entered the final stage.

Of course, in addition to these collaborations, the three countries also carried out final coordination in terms of intelligence, strategy, materials, and manpower, which was a successful meeting, but also an unusually short one.

In just three days, the three countries agreed on so many aspects.

Well, next, the three countries will face a new situation.