The Rise of the Empire

"Huh?! What did you say? The next generation of battleships? You have a new military expansion plan?" Ferdinand's eyes lit up. As a supporter of the navy, his interest in the navy can be described as fanatical! You know, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has two parliaments, and a resolution needs to be passed by both the Austrian Parliament and the Hungarian Parliament to be effective. The rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not pay much attention to the navy. The Kingdom of Hungary had no interest in the navy, and Emperor Fritz had the same attitude towards the navy! \u003c/p\u003eBefore 1901, the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy did not even have a warship over 7,000 tons! Compared with the Italian next door, that's nothing but silk! But in this extremely unfavorable political situation, our Crown Prince Ferdinand was able to unite with other forces to start building 3 Radez-class battleships in 1907, and then started construction of 4 United Force-class battleships! If it weren't for the reason of World War I, the construction of the other four Lord Loudon-class battleships could also start. This dedication and persistence are admirable... \u003c/p\u003eOf course, the prince still has this opinion. There is no need for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to start building so early. On the one hand, it is a waste of money. Without the stimulation of the launch of the dreadnought, it is estimated that the Austro-Hungarian government will not be able to make up its mind to build it for a while. \u003c/p\u003eThe fundamental purpose of the prince still disclosing this news to Crown Prince Ferdinand is to prepare for the German Navy’s next wave of naval gun bidding. Although the 12-inch l40 naval gun made the prince a lot of money, Krupp is It will not sit still, and the Prussian military-industrial group headed by Krupp will not sit still. After the construction of the battleship Kaiser Frederick the Great was completed, when the prince was preparing for Germany, or the world's first dreadnought ship, those hateful capitalists thought they had found an opportunity... \u003c/p\u003eUnder the tremendous pressure of the Bavarian Southern Industrial Group and the temptation of the huge profits of the naval gun business, Krupp finally decided to climb the technology tree. According to internal information, they have already started the project. Prepare to develop a new 12-inch l45 naval gun! In order to regain the lost market in the new dreadnought competition. \u003c/p\u003eTo be honest, the last time the prince got the order was a bit of a trick, the whole process can be described as plagiarism, basically it is to take the Russian naval gun, and then the Skoda factory changes it and it is over... . But this time is different. Although Krupp has a 12-inch naval gun for thousands of years in history, I have to admit that Krupp’s 12-inch L50 gun is really good. It can shoot a 405kg shell with a muzzle velocity of 855 meters! \u003c/p\u003e Judging from the paper data, this artillery is at least not weaker than the British and American 12-inch artillery of the same period. As for the 12-inch gun that can really stabilize this gun, I am afraid that there is only the K10 12-inch L45 gun produced by Skoda. In terms of basics, the Bavarian Southern Industrial Group is definitely not as good as those old fritters in the north,\u003c/p\u003e so he can only entrust the task of designing this artillery to the Austrians, hoping that they can quickly get this artillery out! Historically, it took a long time for firepower to transition from fearless to super fearless. The first dreadnought was commissioned in 2006, and the first super dreadnought was commissioned in 2012.... However, it took less than 3 years for the firepower to be upgraded from the 14-inch level to the 15-inch level! \u003c/p\u003eConsidering the early start of the fearless era, the construction of the German Navy is about to begin! The Kaiser and the German Navy have endured it for many years. It is not easy for the prince to reduce the number of German pre-dreadnoughts from 2 dozen to 6 in history! You must know that in history, the Germans started from Brandenburg and built a total of 24 pre-dreadnoughts of level 5! By the time the last Dreadnought was in service, the Nassaus were all in the water....

\u003c/p\u003e Let's calculate it based on the 1.1 million pounds of an ex-dreadnought. The prince saved the German government more than 20 million pounds. (Including maintenance expenses) You know, Bavaria's naval armor sales are a huge income. In order to save Germany some money, the prince's payment can be described as huge... \u003c/p\u003e"Skoda is responsible for the artillery design, and then Bavaria and Austria each have half of the production capacity. We will share the profits equally. What do you think?" The conditions offered by the prince cannot be said to be unfavorable. Everyone draws on their strengths and cooperates with each other. Of course, this is only the profit of the artillery. The design and construction of the turret is still dominated by Bavaria. After all, this difficulty is less than that of the artillery. \u003c/p\u003e"You want to design new warships? About how many ships?" Crown Prince Ferdinand did not answer immediately, but asked instead. Now, he has quickly transformed from a prince to a businessman, and began to calculate his own gains and losses. If the transaction is relatively small and it is difficult to share R\u0026D expenses, then he will have to reconsider the profit sharing. Let Bavaria pay at least part of the research and development costs. \u003c/p\u003e"Our future battleships and large cruisers will use 12-inch naval guns. The number of the former may be 2 to 3, and the latter is estimated to be the same number." The prince thought for a while and said. \u003c/p\u003e "Then when will the construction of these warships start and when will they be completed?" Ferdinand asked again. \u003c/p\u003e"It should start in 1902, the construction period may be 2 to 3 years, and the full completion should be from 1905 to 2006! Of course, this is only my personal plan at present. The prince replied.\u003c/p\u003eFor the first The number and construction period of a batch of warships were carefully considered by the prince. This was not something that came out of his head. Although the prince knew the value of the dreadnoughts, the appearance of the dreadnoughts made the former dreadnoughts depreciate sharply, but the difficulty of construction was not small. Historically, the displacement of the British Dreadnought reached 18,000 tons.\u003c/p\u003e But in fact, this tonnage is not enough for a well-defended warship with good gun and torpedo protection. According to the prince’s estimation , the tonnage of a dreadnought equipped with about 10 12-inch L45 guns should be around 22,000 tons. 12-inch side string armor, 3-inch horizontal armor, and better TDS, all of which require tonnage support ,\u003c/p\u003eNow the largest warship built by the German Navy has a displacement of 15,000 tons, and then it jumps directly to 22,000 tons.... The prince also feels a little overwhelmed!\u003c/p\u003eThis is still the construction of battleships, technology Matters related to design and engineering have put some pressure on German industry, and battlecruisers are even more difficult, because battlecruisers have higher requirements for speed. If battleships can use kerosene-fired boilers and steam engines to make do, Then the battlecruiser must use steam turbines, otherwise it is really difficult to reach a speed of 25 knots... It can even be described as slim.\u003c/p\u003eToday’s chapter is published in advance, so\u003c/p\u003e a\u003eAnd the book friends who voted\u003c/a\u003e can only thank you in the future~~~, the second one is here~~~! Please subscribe please\u003c/a\u003e~~~!!!\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e