The Rise of the Empire

"Stronger artillery, greater tonnage! Please remember November 8, 1907, a historic moment! Two years ago, the world's first new battleship, the Nassau-type battleship, almost all the old-fashioned battleships Battleships are obsolete, and today, in just over two years, the emergence of a new generation of super battleships dwarfs even Nassau! The emergence of the Brandenburg-class battleships symbolizes the emergence of a new generation of maritime overlords! In the fight for the ocean The German Empire will never give in."

On the most prominent page of the Frankfurter Zeitung, Germany's new first-class battleship, the Brandenburg-class battleship equipped with eight 350MM heavy guns, was introduced at length in extremely provocative and contagious language. Under the title, there is a photo of Kaiser Wilhelm II attending the commissioning ceremony of this class of battleships. Wilhelm II did a good job of hiding his slightly disabled hand, and the other hand held a medal representing the Admiral of the Navy. stick. And used this opportunity to award it to Navy Minister Tirpitz in recognition of his contributions in the naval field.

"If I have time, I'll also get a marshal's scepter." Ruprecht said with a smile as he looked at the photo in the newspaper. From the current point of view, the Field Marshal's Scepter is a sure thing. The Air Force is not a big problem. After all, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the father of the German Air Force. As for the Navy, Ruprecht believes that he is qualified enough. Then he put down the newspaper and picked up another newspaper next to it. This is the British Times. Judging from the dates, there is a 5-day difference between the two newspapers.

This time the German Navy finally announced the arrival of the super-fearless era at the first time. To this end, the entire naval system, from the shipyard to all naval departments, has made great efforts. The British were a little slower this time and lost face, but soon they found the factory from another direction.

On the front page of The Times, six photos arranged in a hexagon cover almost the entire page. The black printed characters are full of domineering declaration: At any time, our fleet is twice that of the Germans! The British responded to the opponent's challenge with a huge number of shipbuilding projects. From the current point of view, there are only 6 capital ships under construction in the entire German Navy!

"A single Armstrong shipyard built three ships at the same time, which is really impressive." Ruprecht sighed with emotion. "Our 15-inch naval gun and supporting systems have been completed?"

"Yes, our last level of super-dreadnought before the war has determined that it will be equipped with a new 15-inch heavy artillery. Various plans have also been sent up. In three days, they will be sent to you for your review." A navy man next to him The captain said it with fear.

"Very good, Redel, relax a little, don't be too nervous. You can go down now and be responsible for collecting the developments in other countries." Ruprecht felt secretly happy! Raedel! The future naval commander of the Third Reich and the Reich Marshal. Now a civilian in his own Navy office. It feels very fulfilling to think about it.

"I heard that you want to work in the front-line fleet?" Ruprecht asked before Redel left.

"That's right, although the job in the naval organization is important, I still hope to go to the first-line fleet." Redl said.

"If you can persist like this next time if I ask you again, then I can give you this opportunity. How about going to Hipper? Once the war starts, his fleet will have the highest attendance rate." Rupre Hit said.

"Thank you very much, Your Highness..." Redel didn't expect it to be so easy.

He quickly expressed his thanks, but at this time, Ruprecht had already focused on business.

The naval arms race has entered a fever pitch. When Britain and Germany push the competition to a climax, other powerful countries will definitely follow suit in order not to be left too far behind. Not only powerful countries, but also some regional powers with spare power will do the same. The dreadnoughts of this era, like the aircraft carriers of later generations, were to some extent a symbol of international status. Of course, for the Allies and the Entente, they were ready for war at any time.

The French finally began construction of their first-class dreadnoughts, the Lombard-class battleships. After realizing that the Dandong could not fight against the current threat, they decisively chose to follow the footsteps of powerful countries. However, it is obvious that the French, who do not have sufficient technical reserves and are under great practical pressure, cannot directly rely on their own strength to directly build a superpower. Fearless. And being unwilling to use British artillery, France's first-generation dreadnoughts were, as in history, equipped with a large number of 12-inch cannons.

Italy also chose to follow. When the Dauntless appeared, they were still indifferent. But when the Super Dauntless appeared and Austria-Hungary on the opposite side also had the momentum of building a large navy, the Italians finally couldn't sit still. The first-level Dante class Battleship construction began.

As for the Russians, they decided to order a super dreadnought from the United Kingdom, but their country plans to start construction of dreadnoughts at shipyards in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea at the same time. This may be the result of considering the balance between warship performance and self-production factors.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire? Ruprecht said that he must know their dreadnought plan better than Austria-Hungary, because this plan was specified by him. There are still more than four years left. The Austro-Hungarian Empire will start construction of the first batch of two super-dreadnoughts next year, and the second batch of two other super-dreadnoughts the year after that. After two batches, they will probably be ready for war, and they will no longer consider building new capital ships.

If we follow history, the three ABC countries in South America and Turkey will also catch up with this naval feast of the century, but they all ordered relatively late, and except for Turkey, other countries have little to do with the European war situation. So don’t think about it so much for now.

Judging from the current situation, except for the German navy which is far ahead of the same period in history due to Ruprecht, the situation of most other countries is similar to that in history. That is to say, if nothing unexpected happens, the maritime situation in Europe It should be much better than in history.

"Your Highness, you want the latest naval intelligence from other countries." That afternoon, just as Ruprecht finished his day's work and was about to rest, Redl knocked on the door of the office again.

"This is the information you want, the latest information. I also specially collected information about the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy. According to your request, this is the last part. Although it is far away from us, I think it is still necessary to collect it. Together." Looking at Ruprecht's slightly dissatisfied eyes, Redel shivered in fright.

"Since you have to work overtime, then you should work overtime with me." Ruprecht is still very tolerant of those who have the ability. After all, they have rebuilt the Third Reich Navy without any restrictions, right?

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