Chapter 1077: All Heavy Gun Battleships

  Chapter 1056 – All Heavy Gun Battleships

Although the Admiralty’s shipbuilding plan was not approved, the strategic plan to provoke the Anglo-Russian war was highly praised by Frederick.

In any country, the most feared thing is bureaucrats’ brainless inaction. Only a busy bureaucrat is a good bureaucrat.

Although the Ministry of the Navy worried slightly more than a little bit, consider the problem is not so well thought out, but in connection with the actual situation, Frederick also understand the Ministry of the Navy’s approach.

Although the Holy Roman Empire Navy has already reached the second level in the world; however, it is far from the first.

Originally, the Holy Roman Navy was expected to catch up with the British, but unfortunately, the French warships were dumped by the government to the British, further widening the gap between the strength of the two navies.

Of course, everything has two sides, there are disadvantages and advantages. The Royal Navy, which got the French warships, also did not do well.

Originally, the purpose of purchasing these warships was to suppress the Shenluo Navy and consolidate the hegemony of the sea.

However, the situation has changed a little bit, the expected arms race did not break out, the Royal Navy with a large number of warships can only choose to seal part of the warships.

Bought a bunch of big toys home, finally can only be locked in the drawer, the British are equally bitter.

However, this is also no way of doing things, knowing that there is a pit the British can only jump into it, otherwise the warships fell into the hands of the Shenluo Navy, the Royal Navy’s dominant position will be difficult to protect.

After all, warship construction also took time. If the Royal Navy does not have an advantage, in case one day the Vienna government suddenly has a brain cramp and comes to play with the Royal Navy to cash in, then it will be a tragedy.

Shinra is a land power country can afford to lose, but Britain can’t afford to lose. If the Royal Navy suffered heavy losses, the international situation pushed back to reshuffle, Britain again want to restore maritime hegemony will be difficult.

Missed an opportunity to catch up quickly, immediately ushered in the largest economic crisis in human history, money are taken to engage in the economy, military spending is naturally less.

Ever since the end of the Continental War, Shen Luo’s military spending had stayed where it was. The total amount of military spending has not increased, and the amount of military spending allocated to the Navy is naturally unlikely to increase.

In order for the military to raise military expenses after the war, both the army and air force sold used equipment. Not to say that they made a lot of money, but it is still possible to improve their lives.

The navy is bitter, because of the previous warship sale, the international market has long been saturated, there is no room for them to play.

In fact, even if there is room to play are useless. The army and air force sold equipment in a big way, that is left over from the war against France, and how to tearfully sell, but also better than dismantled and sold scrap metal.

The navy is different, not only did not have a bunch of warships left, but also face competition from the British.

The Shinra Navy’s military budget has not increased, but the rival navy’s budget is growing every year. The Ministry of the Navy was watching and anxious.

Just “anxious” is useless, the government’s annual budget is so much, care of this end will not be able to care of that end, the government budget can only prioritize to the more needy places tilt.

Undoubtedly, the Shen Luo Navy was obviously not the most urgent need for development. The Royal Navy’s advantage was already large, and it wouldn’t hurt to make it even larger; they wouldn’t dare to enter the Mediterranean Sea anyway.

The Royal Navy’s reputation was simply too great, and many in the higher echelons of the Viennese government, including Frederick, lacked confidence in the navy.

On the issue of confrontation with the British, there has always been another voice in the Vienna government, that is: build more airfields along the coast to deploy the air force for defense, and at the same time vigorously develop submarines as a supplement.

There is no need to sink all the enemy warships, as long as the air force can wound the enemy warships, the navy can go up and pick up the pieces.

The requirements are so low, the difficulty is naturally not high. Now the main force of the Royal Navy does not dare to enter the Mediterranean Sea, is completed under this theory.

After all, the mobility of the air force is far higher than the navy, and the Vienna government has built a large number of airstrips along the coast.

The Vienna government could, if it wished, assemble hundreds, if not thousands, of airplanes in any one area.

Anyone faced with a dense swarm of airplanes would have their heads spinning. The Royal Navy was formidable, but it was still wary of the enemy overhead.

The Air Ministry had even formulated a strategic bombing plan against Britain, namely: to concentrate thousands of bombers at one time and launch air raids against the Royal Navy to put an end to the British hegemony at sea.

Although it could not be done under the existing technology, it might not be impossible to do so after the next twenty to thirty years, considering the speed of development of aviation technology.

After all, the English Channel was just a little distance away, and as the European hegemony of Shinra could completely deploy its fighters in the area of France and Belgium, and launching air raids would not be difficult.

Even though the plan was full of ideals, compared to a duel at sea with the British, everyone had more confidence in the air force.

Against this background, the Shinra Navy naturally had a hard time. Even if they couldn’t win the Army’s competition for military expenses, even the Air Force came to steal resources from them, it was only normal for the Ministry of Navy to be anxious.

With the limited military budget, the Navy’s original plan of “relying on the industrial superiority of the Shenluo, and directly piling up the quantity to kill the British strategy” was obviously not feasible.

After another attempt was met by Frederick, Castagni took out a new document and handed it over: “Your Highness, this is the alternative plan prepared by our Navy Department.

The gap between the Imperial Navy and the British Royal Navy is far, want to catch up is bound to invest a lot of financial resources.

Considering the limited revenue of the empire, in order to save military expenses, the navy ministry is ready to promote the naval industrial technology revolution.

This is a new type of battleship unlike any other we have ever seen before, using a completely new design concept.

We have abandoned the old concept of multiple gunnery in favor of all heavy guns. The firepower is three times that of conventional battleships.

If this attempt is successful, then all previous traditional battleships will be swept into the dustbin of history.”

“Experimental ship”, this is important. Although the Viennese government withheld on naval investment, but in order to encourage naval technological innovation, the use of new technology “test ship” is extraordinarily generous.

As a direct result of the Shen Luo Navy, every year there will be a lot of strange design. However, if you want to promote the development of naval technology, these payments are necessary.

Throughout the history of the development of the human navy, you will know that every technological revolution, are stepping on mines stepped out again and again.

For this reason Franz also specializes in a naval oddball design exhibition hall, dedicated to the exhibition of various technological innovations on the path of naval development. The successful ones and the failed ones were all put in a brain.

No accusations, no criticism, as if everything is taken for granted. After a long time we are also used to, the designers of the brain hole was opened, in the road of fancy death more and more play more and more high.

Of course, more than ninety-nine percent of the warship design drawings ended up in the archives, and those that could really be turned into warships were still less than one percent.

The courage to try is not the same as brainless attempts. At least must meet the most basic principles of mechanics, to ensure that the warship will not sink, before entering the next step in the demonstration.

After the internal screening, the final design program is already more reliable.

Frederick did not know much about naval technology, but the most basic common sense was still there. Looking at the warship design in front of him, Frederick asked doubtfully, “Sweeping all the previous battleships into the garbage heap, are you sure it will work?”

It’s not that he was distressed that the warships were eliminated, in fact, any further changes in warship technology would not affect the value of the previous warships.

After all, the naval technology revolution was not something that every country could keep up with. The ones that counted as rivals right now were only Shinra and Britannia, and the rest were all little brothers.

If you want to participate in the naval technology revolution, it’s better to wait until you grow up, right now it’s not their turn to join in the fun.

If the naval technology revolution really breaks out, just like the birth of the ironclad ship, it is absolutely only good and not bad for the Holy Roman Empire.

Today’s time is different from the past, from the same starting line to start, with the strong industrial strength, the Holy Roman Empire is not afraid to compete with the British.

Although the old battleships will be eliminated will lose a lot of money, but the biggest loss is still the British. In terms of financial strength, “kill the enemy a thousand, lose eight hundred”, for Shinra can still try.

Minister of Navy Castagni shook his head: “Your Highness, the birth of new technology is always inevitable. No one can guarantee that it will work before it is introduced.

I can only tell you that this new type of battleship has such potential. With three times the firepower of a traditional battleship, it can indeed be abusive in theory.”

Just “potential” was enough. For a chance to quickly close the power gap with the British Navy, taking out more than four million Shinto shields for an experiment was completely acceptable.

After a little thought, Frederick slowly said, “I’ll leave this document for now, in principle I have no objections.

As for when to start the program, wait until the cabinet has discussed it!”

More than four million divine guilders is not a small figure, it is already close to one percent of the Vienna government’s financial income, and occupies an important proportion in the government’s financial budget.

Frederick felt that he was better to be cautious, who knows if more important items will appear later. One could not preside over the budget allocation for the first time and screw it up.

Especially since the successful testing of the new ship would bring about an arms race of unprecedented proportions, it would be even more important not to be sloppy.

Frederick didn’t think that if Shen Luo could build warships, the British wouldn’t be able to do it. Although Shen Luo’s comprehensive industrial strength is stronger, but in naval technology Britain is the king.

Even after the end of the Continental War, Shen Luo inherited the French’s naval technology and made up for some of the shortcomings, but that only brought the two sides to the same level, and still wasn’t able to surpass the British.

(End of chapter)