The Asian-East Navy Armed Forces Competition has been in progress for more than three years, and China, Japan and Russia are competing in Northeast Asia.

With the efforts of Wang Chenhao, the Chinese Navy has built the fifth most powerful navy in the world, second only to the Tsarist Russian Empire Navy. In Northeast Asia, its strength is even greater than the Tsarist Russian Far East Fleet and the Japanese Joint Fleet, becoming the strongest navy in the Asia-Pacific region.

With the completion of the Chinese Navy Hunter-class and Haiqi-class armored cruisers, the Six Six Fleet plan built by Wang Chenhao has been completed.

The Six Six Fleet case originally planned to build a six heavy armored cruiser, six light armored cruiser, and six matching auxiliary six destroyer fleets, but as the arms race in Northeast Asia continues to expand, the original Six Six Fleet plan is a bit outdated.

As early as the Qing Empire implemented financial reforms in 1 year, in order to stabilize Dragon Coin, Wang Chenhao had to use the power of the two largest economies in the world, the United States and Britain, to eliminate the major financial blackmail of international finance headed by the Rothschild family. In return, Wang Chenhao ordered four Dengyun-class battleships and twelve large West Lake-class supply ships to Britain and the United States.

In this way, the number of battleships of the Chinese Navy in the second quarter of 1899 will increase to six, and the Six Six Fleet case will be expanded invisibly.

This increase doesn't matter, because the Chinese navy expanded its spikes and the Japanese navy also actively planned its response strategies.

The Tsarist Russian Empire had always been resentful of the outcome of the Qing-Russian War. Nicholas II, who was desperate for face, vowed to take revenge. Therefore, under his leadership, the Tsarist Russian government had just stabilized its domestic economy and its finances began to tilt towards the development of military power in the Far East.

Originally, the Russian government of Tsarist Russia sent five battleships, Siooiveeiki, Retasrov, Peresvet, Victory and Oosliabia to the Far East Tsarist Russian Navy against the two Dengyun-class battleships of the Chinese Navy. The number of battleships in the Tsarist Russian Far East Fleet increased to five, which seemed to be enough to deal with the two battleships of the Chinese Navy, but what is the actual combat power?

The Russians themselves knew that the five battleships, regardless of firepower, armor and speed were not as good as the Chinese Navy's Dengyun-class battleship. Although the speed of the Pereswere-class battleship reached the concave link, they were obtained at the expense of armor and firepower. The three Pereswere-class battleships equipped with a Millimeter main gun could only serve as the horns of the second-class battleships, and were not the opponents of the Dengyun-class battleships in the battleships at all.

The Tsarist Russian Far East Fleet was equipped with five battleships, which only suppressed the two battleships of the Chinese Navy by number. Now the Chinese Navy has ordered four more battleships, and this balance was immediately broken, and the Tsarist Russian Navy had to take measures to deal with it.

The reason why the warships of the Tsarist Russian Navy have always lagged behind mainstream international warships has also been improved as the Tsarist Russian government seeks military service from the United States and France.

In order to win over Tsarist Russia to deal with the three alliances of Germany, Italy and Austria, France's most advanced Toulon shipbuilding used France's highest shipbuilding technology to build the Crown battleship for the Tsarist Russian Navy. Although the US government agreed to build the Letvizan battleship for Russia, under the pressure of the Chinese and British governments, some key technologies were retained when selling the design drawings and technology. Despite this, the technology obtained by Russia was also advanced than that of domestic technology, so it still chose to agree.

Due to the limited funding of the Russian government, in the face of the Chinese Navy's ordering four 16,000-ton Dengyun-class battleships, the Russian Navy had to make plans in advance. In order to achieve the established strategic policy, Russia decided to start to imitate these two battleships in China after the start of construction of the "Letvizan" and "Prince", and correct them at any time based on the advantages and disadvantages of these two battleships. Then, refer to its design and start construction of five new warships that integrate their advanced technologies and techniques in the country at the same time. Finally, the advantages and lessons of integrating the aforementioned battleships are summarized to build a strongest super battleship.

Half a year after the start of construction, the Russian Navy believed that the Americans were stable, comprehensive and balanced, and the path of mature technology did not seem to be very tempted by the eager Russians. The "Kniagpotyomkintaunitcheoyceaoo" designed by the "Trevizan" was originally planned to build three ships, but after the start of construction, the other two were cancelled, and only one was built, namely the "BoJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJinJ

However, although the French-designed "Prince" found that there were problems of one kind or another in the early stages of construction, it was still favored by the Russians for its powerful firepower and excellent protective energy. During the time when the French started construction of the "Prince" battleship for the Russian Navy, they made comprehensive improvements to its design defects, and then built a more powerful "Suffnen" for the French Navy. The Prince has started construction and it is impossible to make major changes. For this reason, the Russians asked the French government for the design drawings and a large amount of technical information for the "Prince" battleship, and then improved the Borodino-class battleship that was later started in Russia.

It can be said that the "Borodino-class" is the Russian version of the "Sofen", and its design is also inherited from the "Prince" battleship. The Russians decided to transfer the two cancelled Bos to the construction of the "Prince" battleship after integrating the strengths of the "Prince" and modifying its defects. In this way, the number of construction of the Boroodino-class battleships reached 3.

Ship.

The original intention of the Borodino-class battleship was to deal with the Dengyun-class battleships of China's seagrass. However, what the Russian Navy urged was that the Russian Navy's docks in Vladivostok and Ulsan naval bases in the Far East could only maintain 14,000-ton warships, while Russia had no colonies overseas. Considering the war factors, it was impossible to let the Borodino-class battleship sail 18,000 miles back to St. Petersburg for maintenance, and then sail 18,000 miles back to the Far East. The Russian Navy requested the Ministry of Finance to allocate funds to expand the 20,000-ton dock in the Far East, but the Ministry of Finance headed by Vite did not approve it. In desperation, the Russian Navy had to limit the tonnage of the Borodino-class battleship to within 14,000 tons, and the final displacement was determined to be around 13,500 tons.

The Borodino-class battleship was designed 2,500 tons less than the Dengyun-class battleship from the beginning, which will inevitably affect the weight standards of its three key items: artillery, armor and power equipment. The battleship has been lost on the drawings before it has been built.

In terms of speed, the Borodino-class battleships exceeded the first two Dengyun-class battleships, and were comparable to the 18 knot speed of the subsequent four Dengyun-class battleships. The Russian Navy had no overseas colonies, so the Borodino-class battleships had to increase their endurance to meet the requirements of ocean-going operations. Its design can load 2,000 tons of coal, so the range is as long as 8,500 nautical miles when sailing at a speed of 10 knots.

Such a huge voyage has never been seen in previous Russian self-built warships. From this point alone, we can see the Russian Empire's vigorous ambition for the distant seas.

In terms of firepower, the main gun of the "Borodino-class" warship used the strongest naval gun of the Russian Navy at that time, the modee 1895 type with a diameter of 12 inches and 40 times. The main gun can be launched at a maximum elevation angle of 15 degrees to reach about 14,000 meters. The previous old battleship main gun used modee

Type 1877, with a range of less than 10,000 meters. The secondary gun imitates the Dengyun-class battleship and is a dual-equipped 1-millimeter rapid-fire gun.

The first and second-level artillery is not weaker than the Dengyun-class, but the third-level artillery is much weaker. The Borodino-class is equipped with 12 75mm small-caliber rapid-fire cannons, while the Dengyun-class battleship is equipped with 16 88

The millimeter rapid-fire guns, 8 47mm rapid-fire guns and 4 37 rapid-fire guns, are too big in comparison.

The Borodino-class third-class artillery is installed in the waterlines on both sides of the left and right sides in the form of a cannon. The original intention of this design is to enable it to more effectively deal with incoming enemy ships. The muzzle cannon can fire basically belong to the same water rate hull. But the fatal thing is that if it encounters more than a big wave, the third-class artillery cannon cannot fire at all. At this point, all the third-class rapid-fire cannons of the Dengyun-class battleship are dual-mounted turrets, and they can still fire effectively even in harsh sea conditions. This gap can only be discovered in actual combat, so the Russian Navy did not take this into consideration.

In terms of its armor thickness, it can be said that the Borodino class is unprecedented among Russian warships. It is not because of how thick it is, but because according to traditional standards, its armor is really thin and scary! The thickness of the side armor belt between the two main turrets is only 7.5 inches (190 mm), and the bow and aft armor belt is 100 mm. The most sturdy main turret and command tower in the entire ship's armor is only 10 inches (254 mm armor). If this level of armor protection is encountered, if it encounters a Dengyun-class battleship, it is quite dangerous to get a 305 mm shell.

Some people in the Russian Navy once raised questions, but corrupt officials from the Shipbuilding Department claimed that the ship adopts two innovative technologies, France's most advanced "steel" and "dimensional heat treatment method". Therefore, the armor installed on the "Borodino-class" is no less than any other advanced warship in the world in terms of yield.

The Russians deceive themselves, but did not know that your warships have adopted new technology? The Chinese Navy Dengyun-class battleship uses Krupp-enhanced armor, and it is as thick as an inch (310 mm). The gap in this area is destined to make the Borodino-class warship only ravage when it encounters the Dengyun-class warship.

In addition to speed, firepower and armor, the only thing that Borodino class deserves to be boasted about is that she installed a complete radio system when designing it, which solved the problem of the fleet's contact with the command organization well. Since the patent rights of the radio system were controlled by the Beiyang Technology Heavy Industry in China, the Russians asked their grandfather to sue their grandmother in order to obtain the radio system. In order to obtain the radio system, the Russians were authorized to use it by Beiyang Technology Heavy Industry in the United States and the French government. For this reason, Beiyang Technology Heavy Industry extorted a $500,000 technology transfer fee from the Russian Navy.

It can be said that starting from the "Borodino class", the first-class battleships of the Russian Empire have been built on their own in China for the first time, and truly have world-class battleships.

As another enemy of China, the Japanese Navy also rushed to catch up after the Chinese Navy ordered four Tengyun-class battleships and ordered four Shikijima-class battleships from the British shipyard.

The Shikijima-class is also designed for the Chinese Navy's Tengyun-class battleship. Since the Japanese Navy's shipbuilding industry can only build about 4,000 tons of warships and cannot build large-tonnage warships above 10,000 tons, the Japanese Navy can only build in the UK.

Obviously, the British shipbuilding technology is very strong. The overall xing capacity of the Shikijima-class battleship built for Japan is almost the same as that of the Tonyun-class, and several times stronger than the Borodino-class built by Russia.

The normal displacement of Fujima class reaches 15,453 tons, close to the Dengyun class. Its maximum speed is 18

The festival is the same as the subsequent four ships of Dengyun-class. The Fujima-class is equipped with two dual-equipped 305mm main guns, 14

The door has a 152mm single-mounted secondary gun, 20 76mm single-mounted guns, and 12 47mm single-mounted guns. However, the number of guns in the door is slightly stronger than that in the Dengyun class, but its guns are all single-mounted guns with limited firing boundaries, and one-third of the guns are arranged near the waterline and cannot be fired in the strong winds and waves. The Dengyun class's second-, third- and fourth-level guns are all double-mounted turret-type frozen-fire guns, with a wide range of firing boundaries, and can still effectively fire in the sea conditions.

In terms of armor, since the number of artillery installed at Fujima class is not as good as that of the Dengyun class, the armor seems to be slightly inferior. The 280 mm armor belt only covers 85% of the key areas, while the Dengyun class 0 mm armor belt covers the key areas in full. Although this gap doesn't seem to be big, in actual combat, some gaps may cause irreparable losses.

The four Hikishima-class battleships added by the Japanese Navy were almost laying keels at the same time as the four Tengyun-class battleships of the Chinese Navy, and the completion time was similar. This situation was mainly because the British government did not want the Chinese Navy to become stronger in its heart. At this time, the Chinese Navy in the Far East was above the Russian Navy and the Japanese Navy. According to the military tactics of supporting the weak and resisting the strong, the British Navy naturally hoped that the weakest Japanese could also restrain the Chinese Navy.

Of course, the British government knew the priorities. The Qing Empire and Russia had to fight a big battle. For the sake of strategic interests of uniting China to deal with Russia, Britain could not over-stimulate China. Therefore, it was also built warships for China and Japan, but Britain still favored China's side. However, if Russia was weakened after the Sino-Russian War, Britain might have the attitude at that time.

The Asian-East Navy arms race was initiated by Wang Chenhao. The original intention was to safeguard maritime power and prevent Western powers from invading China from the sea. However, with the Sino-Russian conflict and the Sino-Japanese conflict deepening, this naval arms race had another purpose, which was to drag down the economy of Japan and Russia, allowing them to invest all their limited funds into the navy, so that their domestic development funds would be seriously lacking. As the world's second largest economy, China's national wealth is no less than that of the United States, but it is more than that of Japan and Russia combined. Therefore, this degree of arms race is affordable. On the other hand, Japan and Russia have suffered heavy blows from the international silver loss crisis. If they engage in a large-scale naval arms race with anyone, their economy will definitely be dragged down.

Based on this strategic consideration, Wang Chenhao expanded the arms race again after learning that Japan and Russia followed the pace of expansion of the Chinese navy.

Deng Shichang, Liu Buchan and Lin Taizeng and other naval executives proposed a plan to expand the naval at the naval meeting, that is, to add a 33 Fleet case based on the 66th Fleet case, which is the Navy's 99th Fleet case.

The reason why Deng Shichang and other senior naval officials proposed a naval expansion plan was because China has undergone earth-shaking changes. In the past, when they were in the Beiyang Navy, the corrupt Qing government made every effort to make things difficult for the expansion of the Beiyang Navy. Not only did they not add additional funds, but they embezzled naval funds.

This caused extremely bad psychological dissatisfaction in the hearts of Deng Shichang and others. They dared not speak out. Until now, the Beiyang faction led by Wang Chenhao has become the actual master of China. The Beiyang government replaced the Qing government and drove China's state power. Deng Shichang and others' long-standing ambitions for naval hegemony and expansion suddenly burst out.

Of course, the most important point is that the Beiyang government under Wang Chenhao's rule is rich. The Navy Department can legitimately demand money from the cabinet and parliament on the excuse that the Russian Far East Navy and the Japanese Combined Fleet have posed a threat to China. The successful operation of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base has solved the equipment, technology and raw materials necessary for the development of the naval industry. As China gradually completed the construction of the Haiqi-class warships, a large number of various majors have been studied in major naval industrial factories in the UK.

The return of designers, engineers and mechanical technicians has brought British advanced technology to the domestic naval industry. Among them, the shipbuilding engineering and technicians who have been following the construction of Dengyun-class battleships and Hunter-class heavy armored cruisers have allowed the Chinese Navy to build large warships above 16,000. The large test ship Daji, which is under construction in Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, has directly accumulated valuable large warship construction technology for the Chinese Navy.

All this ultimately gave the officials of the Admiralty Department a confidence in realizing their plan to build first-class battleships on their own on the ground.

The Navy's "Naval Three Third Fleet Supplementary Act" includes the construction of three first-class battleships, three heavy Loujia cruisers, three armored cruisers, three total 18 high-speed destroyers, and a batch of corresponding auxiliary ships. The Navy's Supply and Demand Expansion Act budget is 7 million dragon coins, which is planned to be completed by 1901.

Deng Shichang sent the 33rd Fleet expansion case directly to the cabinet and submitted it to Wang Chenhao for approval. Wang Chenhao was supportive of this Navy expansion bill, but considering the government's work process, he asked Deng Shichang to submit the bill to Congress for review first, and then submit it to the cabinet, and finally approved by Wang Chenhao, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet.

In Wang Chenhao's words, all the laws, politics, system and other rules and regulations of this country and this government were established by Wang Chenhao. Although the House of Representatives, Senate, Congress, and Cabinet are all controlled by Wang Chenhao's Beiyang lineage, Wang Chenhao is an actual dictator, and no one will oppose Wang Chenhao's words, but Wang Chenhao needs to retain a fair and good image in front of the people, so the necessary situation still needs to be taken.

In October 1898, the Imperial Congress passed the "Navy Three Fleet Supplementary Act" submitted by the Navy. Three days later, after the Imperial Cabinet had no objection to the bill, Wang Chenhao signed and approved it with seal. Subsequently, the Imperial Ministry of Finance allocated additional funds to the Navy's military budget of 7 million yuan without coins. The 33 Fleet Supplementary Program... was officially launched...!.
Chapter completed!