The Rise of the Empire

"I'll go! The future Secretary of State for the Navy came to meet me! This is... too..." Ruprecht was flattered! When the attendant reported that Tirpitz would come to visit him tomorrow, our Prince Ruprecht immediately lost his composure! Father of the High Seas Fleet! The object of countless Depai worship on the Internet in the future! Came to Munich to visit me in person? I'm so proud of myself!

"Your Highness, the other party is just a colonel, that's all." Earl Sherin, who was helping the prince deal with various sundries before the trip, said with some dissatisfaction. In his eyes, his little master's behavior was degrading, but Just a colonel, as for? Even if the commander of the navy comes, he must pay due respect to the Bavarian royal family!

"This....That's right!" The prince realized that history had changed, so why should he compete with history! "Tell the waiter to put the model of the Munich-type armored cruiser we prepared in the most prominent position in the living room, so that he can see it as soon as he enters the door!"

One day later, under the guidance of the attendants, the current captain of the navy and the future admiral of the navy walked into the prince's living room under the sunshine of early spring, a silver-white warship model more than 1 meter long appeared in the In front of you! This 1:100 model instantly attracted all the attention of the captain of the navy. If the attendant next to him hadn't reminded him that His Royal Highness had arrived, he might have even been paying attention to this battleship!

"What a beautiful battleship! I have never seen a more beautiful battleship than this one. With 11-inch main guns, dense side guns, and a slender hull with a simple appearance, this is a perfect ship. The record! Even the first-class cruisers of the British Empire may not be as good as this ship!"

The future Lord of the Admiralty has no qualms about admiring this ship in the best words! Although he got the approximate data early on, the dry data on paper is not as shocking as a large-scale model after all! Judging from the reaction of the Secretary of the Navy alone, His Royal Highness feels that the large-scale model he made is worth it! With Tirpitz's eloquence and ability, Ruprecht believes that he has no problem persuading the bureaucrats of the Admiralty!

After the simple politeness, the final topic of the two parties still shifted to the battleship model. After all, the primary purpose of the two is to sell the ship! Certain questions need to be clarified! Leaving aside those unspoken rules and black-box operations, the prince thought that he should at least explain clearly the purpose, performance, advantages, and comparison with foreign warships of the same period. of! When a pit king founded the Garibaldi religion, the prince watched the whole process! Finally, I have to admit that someone's argument is still very convincing!

His Royal Highness wanted to say this, but Tirpitz didn't think so! Before the traverser opened his mouth. Tirpitz asked a question, and directly changed the topic to a thousand miles away! "Your Highness, why did the Bavarian Design Bureau design a cruiser instead of a battleship?"

The naval authorities have not finalized the specific direction for the next step of military expansion, and Ruprecht just pushed on the side of the cruiser based on the information at hand and his own judgment. After all, even in history, the German shipbuilding work before 1895 was still very chaotic. In 1896, while the Germans started construction of the Kaiser-class battleship, they also started construction of 6 cruisers in one go! Five of them are the Victoria Louis cruiser of more than 6,000 tons, and the other is the Bismarck armored cruiser of nearly 10,000 tons! The 4 Brandenburg-class battleships are to balance the new Russian battleships in the Baltic Sea. Since Russia and Germany are still allies on this plane, this balance is unnecessary. Coupled with budget issues, the possibility of building cruisers will naturally be much greater. !

"Then what can we build if we don't build cruisers? Battleships of nearly 10,000 tons? Is it useful? Russia is our ally,

The pressure in the direction of the Baltic Sea is not great. France is our enemy, but we can easily overwhelm France with the army. The relationship between Britain and us is not bad, and there will be no war conflicts in the short term. Our biggest problem at present is the rights and interests of overseas colonies Problems, especially in conflicts in the Pacific and the United States! And the possible conflict with France in the ocean, in this case, what do you build instead of a cruiser? Build a group of battleships to park in the port? "The prince said a little funny!

"But any powerful navy must have a strong battleship formation at its core! Because battleships are the decisive force at sea! To be honest, I am not satisfied with the thinking of the Ministry of the Navy. This kind of military expansion plan that focuses on building cruisers does not It is not in line with the future maritime interests of the empire! Cruisers are at best a means of displaying military presence, while battleship formations are a decisive deterrent force!" Tirpitz obviously has his own views and can become the father of the High Seas Fleet He has his own set of theories, and today he wants to convince the prince in front of him!

"Hehe, have you set the tone so early?" the prince said in his heart. Regarding Tirpitz's shipbuilding policy, the prince originally believed that it would not be formally formed until after 1894, because in June 1894, Tirpitz pointed out in the "No. A fleet of fleets is far more awe-inspiring to the world's powers than a fleet of cruisers often scattered around the world!"

From this time on, Tirpitz has been a staunch fan of the main fleet die-knocking! In the subsequent history of German High Seas Fleet shipbuilding, battleships invested far more funds than cruisers or battlecruisers received! And the final result? The huge High Seas Fleet has fought against the opponent once... .

"When formulating any strategy, you have to choose at least one opponent, right? Who do you plan to deter? Britain? France? Or Russia?" The prince suddenly felt that Tirpitz's plan itself was blind and provocative, symbolizing The meaning is greater than the actual meaning.

The prince was very uncomfortable with this kind of statement, and Tirpitz also felt a sense of bewilderment. After all, what the prince said was indeed reasonable. Are you talking about shocking France? The German Army can do it, but the Navy doesn't need it. Deter Russia? Now that the two sides are allies, it seems that they can't use it. Shock Britain? Regardless of whether the relationship between the two parties is good or bad, even if you start construction on half a dozen battleships, the British are still afraid of you? Just kidding! As for the United States? It seems that when everyone confronts each other, they use cruisers to confront each other, and German battleships seem to have never appeared on the front line of confrontation! Because generally speaking, this kind of confrontation is sudden. The battleship has not passed, and the matter is over, and the overseas bases have to put a question mark on the maintenance ability of the battleship!

"The development of the navy does not happen overnight! It is a long process. We need to adopt a plan to make the expansion of the navy a normal state, instead of the current situation where every shipbuilding needs to be discussed and voted by the parliament! As long as there is enough time, we can build a huge fleet that can attract the attention of all the world's powerful countries! It will become the cornerstone of the expansion of the empire!" Tirpitz said.

"Navy bill! The minister was not made in a day. How long has this buddy thought about it!" The prince praised the minister of the navy for his thoughtfulness, not because of his brilliant ideas, but because of his foresight! But buddy, it's too early for you to exert your strength now. When the dreadnought comes out, the value of the things you build will be seriously depreciated! Even if you are a violent ship, don't start violent now, I lost my money to plug the empire! Ruprecht was moved by his actions!

"Actually, you have set the British fleet as your goal! You want to build a fleet that can scare Britain, use sea power as a threat, and force Britain to submit with powerful force! Your purpose is only to make Britain make concessions, not even The courage to defeat the British fleet! You don't have it! Some people don't either!" The prince changed the subject! The sharpness in the language made the future admiral feel very uncomfortable! The other party seems to have insight into everything he thinks! And see through his own weakness!

That's right, Tirpitz never thought about what to do once the war started? They have always believed that once the war starts, the British will implement a near-shore blockade, and then the Germans will use mines, lightning strike ships and battleships to gradually consume their opponents, until the opponent is weak to a certain extent, and concentrate their efforts to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop! But they never seriously thought about what would happen if the British didn't come! When Tirpitz asked his men before the outbreak of World War 1, the other party's answer was that they didn't know! In the end, the menacing fleet didn't even have a complete strategic and tactical system, so what a fool you are! In the end, the battleship formation built with great effort squatted in the port day by day, but Hipper's fast fleet attacked repeatedly at first. This has to be said to be a very ironic thing!

"It is impossible for the British to concentrate their fleet on the mainland. If so, they will lose their command of the sea! We even united with the Russians and the French to organize a European fleet to overwhelm the opponent. Britain is powerless to resist the sea power centered on the German fleet. !" There was some uncertainty in Tirpitz's words!

"Then tell me, how do you coordinate the relationship between France and Germany? The Russians? Their goal is in the Far East, and they are economically dependent on France. How do you let Russia join us in dealing with Britain at sea? Your idea is completely established Based on a diplomatic basis that is almost impossible to achieve! The final result is very likely to be Germany and Austria-Hungary against Britain, France or other countries. From the perspective of naval engagement, we have no chance of winning! The speed of the warships you produce can Outpace Britain and their allies? Don't tell me about Austria-Hungary! The Hungarians are not interested in naval expansion!" the prince continued.

"We must consider the worst case in everything. If the British are not afraid of your deterrence, but intensify the conflict between the two sides, then tell me, how will the German High Seas Fleet face the Royal Navy concentrated in the mainland? , Will France take advantage of the situation to launch a war of revenge?" Ruprecht continued to ask.

In fact, until the outbreak of World War I, Kaiser Wilhelm never planned to rely on the navy to win the war. In the end, Germany's bet is that it can quickly push France away, and then use its powerful navy as a deterrent to force Britain to make concessions. The Kaiser's request for the German fleet is very simple, that is to suppress the Russians in the Baltic Sea, while ensuring the safety of his own home. From this point of view, the Kaiser is relatively clear about the gap between the British and German navies. The huge high seas fleet is indeed not to overwhelm the opponent on the battlefield, because it cannot be overwhelmed at all!

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