The Rise of the Empire

"Those in the Admiralty who took other people's money to mess with us have been eliminated by us, but there are still many people who question our design. They will start from stability, firepower problems in high sea conditions, and whether they are overweight. So, question our design, are you ready?" Ruprecht asked the baron who was going to participate in the naval tender.

"It's not a big problem. Those who are familiar with the naval ships of various countries should be very clear that the warships of the Italian Navy are generally relatively heavy-armed, and so far there have been no major problems in their positions. Our design is completely within the range of safety factors. Although the weapon's In the eyes of the Germans, the proportion may be a little too high." The baron didn't care.

"Attention! The warships of the Italian Navy are in the Mediterranean Sea like a bathtub, while our warships are going to operate in the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean!" Although the travelers know that Garibaldi has no major problems in history, but Once millions or even millions of pounds are involved. The prince was beating drums in his heart. Such a large amount is not a small expense for the Bavarian royal family! He even regrets it now. Could it be too early for this design bureau he created? Is the current Vittorio Cuniberti still a little immature compared with him five years later in history?

The battleship is a system engineering, and it belongs to the kind of design that can go wrong even if it is the best design. The only difference is that there are big and small problems. For example, the overweight-class armored cruiser should be overweight. The 9,000-ton hull is equipped with four 234MM guns and ten 6-inch guns, as well as a large number of armored battleships, which exceed the expected weight. The famous Edgar-class armored cruiser is under high sea conditions, and the lower rapid-fire guns will be affected by the waves.

As for the agile-class battleship, although it has the strongest sidestring firepower in service, the 12,000-ton hull is equipped with 4 10-inch guns and 14 190MM guns. And it has decent speed. But the problem with this product is the biggest of all warships. According to the description in a ghost book "British Battleships in the Pre-Dreadnought Period" read by the traveler, the weight of the armament of this battleship is too large, and the position of the secondary guns is too low, so that the speed reaches 15 knots. Sometimes, the sidestring 190MM gun may be affected by the waves and cannot be designed! 15 knots! dude! This TM is still under good sea conditions!

Therefore, on the one hand, Ruprecht expanded the tonnage of the warship to allow the German-like Garibaldi to have better stability and seaworthiness. The final tonnage of the Munich-class armored cruiser reached 7,500 tons. There has been a relatively large improvement. If the German official price is not bad, the prince can consider changing to a water tube boiler with a higher success rate to reduce the weight of the power system.

In the end, the ammunition originally prepared by the Baron was still useless. Everything was in accordance with the script pre-designed by the two princes. The German Navy agreed to the Munich-type armored cruiser plan proposed by the Bavarian Ship Design Bureau, but the first batch of construction was only 2 ships! It is far from the four ships negotiated in advance! This puzzled the crown prince and the baron. The best way to solve doubts is naturally to communicate directly with the German royal family. After all, the Navy Department also listens to the emperor.

"The empire needs to reduce risks. After all, this cruiser is for its own use, not for export. Excessive accumulation of firepower is quite attractive to those small countries, but for the German navy, they value stability more. So the first batch of construction plans is 2 ships. The way you conducted the pool experiment is very good, but the Admiralty has to do it again by itself. If there is no problem, start building the second batch." Prince William said with a little regret , after all, this is somewhat different from his original script.

"Understandable, but in exchange, one of the first two cruisers must be built at the Brome-Forth Shipyard!" The prince still trusted his partner,

With their "record" in history, they can definitely get the second order.

"If there is no accident, the number of the second batch of construction should be 4 to 5 ships, and there is no problem in assigning them one." Crown Prince William agreed. If this plan can continue, the three major German shipyards will If one shipyard can guarantee this, then the rest of the shipyards can compete by themselves!

In the end, the number of Munich-class armored cruisers finalized was 6 to 7 ships! This plan will be completed within 5 years. They will replace Germany's old-fashioned cruiser formation, and 3 of them will serve as the backbone of Germany's overseas fleet cruising around the world. The other four will serve as backups and the backbone of homeland defense. In terms of cost, their total construction cost is a bit worse than that of the four Brandenburg-class battleships in history, but considering that this is a long process, rather than asking to start construction together in 1890, the pressure on finances Not big. While looking through the materials provided by the prince, the prince also found another problem. This construction plan seems to be somewhat different from the one in history!

"Does the empire only plan to start construction of half a dozen armored cruisers in the next few years? Doesn't the sea defense ship not even build one?" Looking at the document in front of him, the traverser said curiously. If in history the Germans only built 4 Brandenburg-class battleships within 3 years, then this resolution would not be difficult in parliament at all. The reason is simple, how much are 4 battleships? But just over 4 million pounds! The annual expenditure on shipbuilding is only more than 20 million marks when converted into marks. This little money is nothing!

Then there is only one explanation, and that is, these 4 Brandenburg-class battleships were just part of Germany's morning plan in the early 1990s! Historically, while the Germans were experimenting with pre-dreadnought battleships, they also continued to build coastal defense battleships in large numbers! From 1890 to 1892, the Germans started construction of 7 Siegfried coastal defense warships alone! Although the displacement of these warships is not much, only about 3700 tons, but there are so many of them! And there is also a 6,200-ton cruiser that was also started in 1890. The combination of these things is the entire shipbuilding plan of the German Navy in the early 1990s!

Because of the continuation of the reinsurance treaty, the threat of the Russians in the Baltic Sea has been greatly reduced, and as the Russian double-headed eagle gradually looks to the east, in the foreseeable future, Germany will be very safe in the direction of the Baltic Sea, so invisibly, Zieg The Fried-type coastal defense battleship has been cut! This virtually saves a ton of money!

"Although the Munich-type armored cruiser is indeed excellent, its tonnage is too small. Compared with the first-class warships, there is still a big gap in the armaments it carries. The empire needs a sufficiently good battleship as the backbone of the fleet. Your Excellency should Can you understand what I mean?" William II said meaningfully.

"A bigger cruiser, or a battleship?" Ruprecht asked rhetorically.

"After the Munich-type armored cruiser is fully completed, the empire has enough armored cruisers. I hope that there will be one that is comparable to the latest British battleship and will serve as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet!" The crown prince said with a smile.

"As long as there is a budget, leave all the rest to us!" Ruprecht replied very simply.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, In addition, the author occasionally glanced at the old book today, and the book friend Hell Emperor gave a reward of 10,000 starting coins...  There is such a high reward for finishing the book! Get sideways very excited! Today is dedicated to adding a new chapter for the book friend Hell Queen! There will be three more chapters today! If you like it, please vote for fake votes and favorites. The author recommended it for a long time yesterday, and the favorites only increased by 30... I jumped at the beginning--!