On June 13, Wang Chenhao and his party arrived in London.

While staying at the London Embassy in the UK, Wang Chenhao received an emergency telegram from Xu Jingcheng, saying that the Russian Navy intends to send an ocean-going fleet to fight in the Far East against Wang Chenhao's private fleet. This fleet will be drawn from the Russian Baltic fleet, but the specific situation is strictly confidential and unknown to the outside world.

This news made Wang Chenhao very nervous, and he quickly called Xu Jingcheng back and asked Xu Jingcheng to find out the situation further. At the same time, Wang Chenhao and Li Jingfang met with British Foreign Secretary Kimberly.

The meeting between Wang Chenhao and Kimberly was mainly to apply some eye drops on the issue of British-Russia confrontation. Sa Daoyi's assassination in St. Petersburg poured cold water on the already contradictory British-Russia relations. Every day, he saw British national protest teams on Downing Street. Now Russia is preparing to send additional fleets to the Far East, which will have a significant impact on the confrontation between Qing and Russia's maritime forces.

"Mr. Wang, don't worry, there are not many warships in the Russian Baltic fleet that can be used for ocean-going combat. If this really happens, I think the retired warships sealed by the British Empire are enough for you to deal with them."

Kimberley's attitude towards Russia's dispatch of warships to the Far East was unknown, and his promise to Wang Chenhao also had another purpose, that is, to let Wang Chenhao spend money to buy retired warships sealed by Britain. Kimberley never forgot to do business at all times, and was really a role model of the British Empire. However, although Wang Chenhao had a lot of money, he was not interested in spending huge sums of money to buy outdated warships.

"Of course, I will consider it if necessary." Wang Chenhao continued: "However, I hope you can promise me something."

Seeing that Wang Chenhao was interested in purchasing retired warships from the UK, Kimberly said happily: "Please tell me, if I can help, I will do my best."

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "I hope that once the Russian Admiralty Department draws warships from the Baltic Sea to the Far East, your country can block the Suez Canal and prohibit Russian ships from passing!"

Kimberly smiled and said, "What's the difficulty? The Empire and Russia are now at a strife. If Russia does not give us a satisfactory explanation on the assassination of the Daoyi Envoy of Saskatchewan, the Empire will take necessary retaliation measures. The Suez Canal banned Russian ships from passing through. However, this does not prevent Russian ships from going to the Far East, and they can take a detour to Africa."

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "I know this very well. I just let them take a detour to Africa so that I can have three more months to prepare. For example, it takes a certain amount of time to buy warships from your country and hire carrier-based personnel."

Kimberly was very happy to see Wang Chenhao's explanation. He seemed to think that Wang Chenhao would definitely buy warships in the UK. He even wanted the Russians to send more warships to the Far East, so that he could help the British government sell all the old and outdated warships at high prices.

However, he never expected that Wang Chenhao's purpose of saying this was to let the UK strictly block the Suez Canal. Wang Chenhao had no intention of buying the British retired warships at all. He just wanted to delay the time for the Russian fleet to go to the Far East.

On June 20, the Chilean Navy drove the two warships, Brad and Bailanggu, to the Portsmouth Military Port of England, in accordance with the contract reached with Wang Chenhao. Wang Chenhao sent Gao Erqian, You Xuekai, Chen Changling and Lin Fan to accept the two ships. After inspection, Brad and Bailanggu, basically met the ships promised by Chile at the time of signing the contract. So Wang Chenhao and Chile's ambassador to the UK completed the final transaction procedure. At this point, all the seven warships negotiated with Chile and Argentina completed the transaction.

On June 22, the Brad and the Bailanggu entered the London Tamesironworks factory for comprehensive maintenance. In addition to the hull maintenance, like the other five warships, the second ship will undergo a modern transformation by the Marconi Radio Company, a subsidiary of Beiyang Weapons, and they will install telephone systems and radio systems.

On June 23, Wang Chenhao held the first plenary meeting of the fleet. At the meeting, Wang Chenhao issued a series of appointment orders and fleet regulations.

First, the Fleet Command was established. Wang Chenhao served as the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Lin Jianzhang was the deputy commander of the fleet, Gao Erqian, You Xuekai, and Zhao Sheng were the staff of the fleet, and British Admiral Sir Lyons was the chief of the fleet. He brought 103 senior British naval officers and sergeant chiefs, leaving 12 as staff of the Fleet Command, and the others were delegated to each ship as consultants of each ship, bridge staff, ship servants, navigators, etc. The Fleet Command was located on the battleship Weiyuan. When Wang Chenhao was not there, the fleet was commanded by Lin Jianzhang, and Chief of Staff Sir Lyons assisted.

Then, Wang Chenhao renamed his private fleet ships. The Brad armored iron battleship was renamed Weiyuan, with the hull number CN-bb-3 (Chinese Navy Battleship No. 3), and formed nine long battles with the eight long battleships of the Beiyang Navy. Captain Lin Fan and Chief of Staff Wang Shouchang. The bb-1 and bb-2 ships were retained by the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. The two sister ships of the Dengyun-class battleship were composed of bb-4 and bb-5 respectively.

The Bailanggu is a 4600-ton warship, less than 5000-ton warship, and is divided into the category of light warships by Wang Chenhao. Since this ship is a supplement to the five Haiqi-class warships in the Six Six Fleet, in order to facilitate division, Wang Chenhao also renamed the ship to the Hailin and formed six major sea warships, including the hull number cn-cla-6 (Chinese Navy No. 6 light armored cruisers), captain Chen Jiliang, and chief of staff Wu Daqing. The other five Haiqi-class light armored cruisers under construction are named Haiqi (cn-cla-1), Hairong (cn-cla-2), Haichou (cn-cla-3), Haichen (cn-cla-4), and Haixi (cn-cla-5).

The Esmeralda was renamed the Uyong. The tonnage of the ship reached 7,020 tons, exceeding the category of light warships, so it is divided into heavy warships, with the hull number cn-cha-2 (Chinese Navy No. 2 Heavy Armored Cruiser), captain Du Xigui, and chief of staff Li Chengmou. Among them, the Cn-cha-1 is reserved for the Hunter under construction. The ship is the only warship among the large armored cruisers of the Six Six Fleet with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, so she has the right to enjoy the treatment of Ship 1.

Rivadavia was renamed Danyong, with hull number cn-cha-3, captain Chen Qingping, and chief of staff Guo Baochang.

The Moreno was renamed Douyong, with hull number cn-cha-4, captain Chen Shaokuan, and chief of staff Xie Taiping.

The Takabuku was renamed Fenyong, with hull number cn-cha-5, captain Chen Changling, and chief of staff Li Chaobin.

Minister Centino was renamed Gangyong, with hull number cn-cha-6, captain Wu Ankang, and chief of staff Chen Shi.

At this time, five of the seven warships had been modernized on the ship platform of the British shipyard. The other two Italian-born warships, the Danyong and Douyong, directly installed telephone systems and radio systems at the Ansaldo Shipyard. After the installation was completed, they would gather at the Portsmouth Military Port in the UK for adaptive training, and wait for orders to return to China.

The current communication distance of the radio devices produced by Marconi Company is no more than 35 kilometers. When installed on warships, the communication distance is increased by 40 kilometers with the help of a dozen meters high main mast. During this period, the sea combat distance was between 800 and 3,000 meters. The combat formation distance between Wang Chenhao's private fleet was about 500 to 2,000 meters. The seven warships were completely within the communication distance of the radio during combat, so they met the combat requirements.

However, a carrier-based telephone system and radio system cost a lot, with the production cost alone being as high as 50,000 pounds. But Wang Chenhao still decided to install it. Compared with telephone communication, the huge efficiency and role of radio communication in naval warfare is worth spending.

Fleet affairs are going well. There are 4,000 mercenaries on each ship of the fleet, but for the sake of safety, they are not allowed to carry guns and weapons on the ship. However, all the 1,000 Chinese officers and soldiers on the ship are equipped with Belgium-made 9mm revolvers. They will shoulder the safety of the fleet and prevent mercenaries from riots or mutiny in the fleet. Of course, the possibility of mutiny is very low. After all, these mercenaries are matched by the British Navy. Once mutiny, it will seriously affect the political image of the British Navy, and the British Navy will never allow such a thing to happen.

Li Guodong is already working on establishing an intelligence station. Wang Chenhao has no more knowledge to teach him in this regard, so he can only rely on himself to constantly explore.

Wang Chenhao's original plan included secretly approaching the Spanish waters and bringing two huge undersea shipwreck treasures there, one of which was the Spanish golden fleet and the other was the British golden ship. The shipwreck was full of gold jewelry. But he found that the two treasures were located within the Spanish territorial waters, and the Spanish navy was cruising there, so it was difficult to start. As a last resort, Wang Chenhao had to give up these two treasures first and wait for the opportunity to get them out in the future.

The fleet ships will be upgraded and transformed in two months. Wang Chenhao ordered Lin Jianzhang to be responsible for managing the fleet, and Li Jingfang assisted from the side. Wang Chenhao led his salvage team across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. He wanted to give Japan some eye drops in front of the Americans, so that the United States and Japan could not make the cooperation between the United States and Japan too pleasant. At the same time, Wang Chenhao also planned to make some money in the United States and then return to China. After all, he is now maintaining a fleet alone. The daily coal burning money is astronomical, and it is really difficult to support them without making more money. At the same time, there are several shipwreck treasures near the American coastline, and they are all salvaged.

At the end of June, Wang Chenhao received a telegram from Xu Jingcheng before departure, which said that the Russian Navy had sent several additional warships to the Far East. It was said that the Russian Navy's secret telegram allowed the fleet to launch an attack on Wang Chenhao's private fleet, but the news was not confirmed, it was just speculation.

Since the Russian Admiralty strictly kept this confidential, the specific name and performance of the warship were not clear. However, the corrupt officials of the Russian Admiralty were pried open by some journalists, knowing that a battleship, a large armored cruiser and two protective cruisers were transferred from the Baltic Fleet to fight in the Far East.

The Russian Baltic Fleet has a large number of warships and strong firepower, but most of them are shallow-sea warships with low freeboard. They are quite qualified to use in the Baltic Sea, but they are not suitable for ocean navigation and have extremely poor seaworthiness. Among the Russian naval warships, there are only a handful of warships suitable for ocean navigation. Among the battleships, the first battleship that can be navigated from the ocean was the great Sisoiveliki battleship, which was raised with freeboard. The ship was built in 1891, completed in 1894, and entered the Baltic Fleet in June 1895.

Starting from the "Great Sissoa", it was the turning point for the Russian Navy toward blue water. It should also be noted that although the "Great Sissoa" is equipped with very few artillery (except for the front and rear dual 12-inch main guns, only a total of 6 6-inch secondary guns were installed on the left and right sides), it was installed with a new 40-diameter 12-inch model 1895 main gun. In terms of range and penetration capabilities, it has made great progress compared to the 32-diameter 12-inch model 1877 main gun that was generally equipped by Russian warships.

The first step of the "Great Navy" plan after Nicholas II came to power was to start the construction of three "poltavaclass" battleships, which were designed to be modeled after the "Great Sissoa" but were slightly reduced. It also referenced the American "Indiana" class battleships in design. This small battleship originally intended to be used in the Baltic Sea. The imaginary enemy at the beginning of construction was Germany's new armored cruiser. The most basic combat mission was to protect the shipping routes in the Baltic Sea, expel and eliminate the German navy's armored cruisers. Due to the reduction of tonnage, it is similar to the traditional one.

The 2-inch main gun is too bulky for this small warship, so the Russians took the initiative to install a 10-inch main gun. In addition to the four model1891 45-diameter 10-inch main guns arranged in front and rear according to the central axis, the 8 6-inch secondary guns were all installed in four turrets on the open deck, rather than using the more traditional side gun profile installation. This avoids the problem of the contoured secondary gun being unable to shoot in harsh sea conditions due to sea water washing. At the same time, the "Havi method" has been fully used to harden the armor belt on the side, and the overall weight of the armor has been reduced due to the increase in strength.

In general, the "Poltava class" is slightly inferior in firepower (but it seems to be enough for a small battleship with a standard displacement of less than 9,000 tons), with good navigation performance, but the stability is lacking. The reason is that its tower secondary gun design is not worth the cost, because the original intention of the design of this class is to obtain relatively good stability and seaworthiness. However, the existence of an armored secondary turret on the deck has significantly increased the weight of the upper part of the hull, so it is inevitable that the stability decreases for this small battleship.

Later, only one "rotislavclass" built in 1894 can be regarded as a modified reduction of the "Great Sissoa". The main improvement is the secondary gun, which abolished the turret design and returned to the traditional silhouette, with 3 doors on both sides. This improvement also paid off. Due to the significant reduction in the upper weight of the hull, the "rotislavclass" was excellent in both navigation performance and stability. It is worth mentioning that this warship was also experimentally installed by the Russians with heavy oil and coal mixed boiler, but the ship is currently in service in the Black Sea Fleet. Judging from the Turkish Empire's current attitude towards Russia, the ship cannot leave the Black Sea.

Russia only sent one battleship, so it must be the largest tonnage and the most powerful firepower, which is in line with the Russians' mentality of sacrificing face. Wang Chenhao concluded based on this that it should be the Sissoa.

As for large armored cruisers, the only one that Russia can carry out ocean-going oceans is the only Russian, which is improved on the basis of the Liurik class, has this capability. The ship is built by the Balticshipyard, with a displacement of 12,195 tons and 6 200 mm main guns, which is an improved and enhanced version of the Liurik. This ship is very troubled by Wang Chenhao because his fleet is already very troublesome to deal with a Liurik. If this Russian is added, the situation will become very unfavorable.

As for the two protective cruisers, Wang Chenhao has learned from the French Lehavre Shipyard that the factory suddenly worked overtime to complete the final installation of the Svetlana and Admiralkornilov in advance. French media have revealed that the Russian Navy will send these two latest protective cruisers to the Far East. The tonnage of these two warships is about 3,800 yuan, equipped with 6 152mm main guns and 6 76mm rapid-fire guns, with speeds of around 20 knots. The threat is not great, but with the second ship guards beside the battleship, the combat power will be significantly improved. The second ship cooperates with the Russian operation, which will pose a huge threat to its own fleet.
Chapter completed!