Putting aside the US Navy and the German Navy, Russia, Japan, Britain and France are left in the sea power in the Far East.

In 1894, Russia's industrial steel production was 2.1 million tons and its iron production was 6 million tons, ranking fourth in the world. However, the Russian Far East Navy only had two large armored cruisers and some offshore defense iron armored ships, protective cruisers and gunboats. The main force of Russia's navy and army was concentrated in Europe, which was too far from the Far East, and the threat was not very high for the time being.

However, Wang Chenhao believes that Russia is adjusting its strategy and that Nicholas II is actively aggressive. There will be a war between China and Russia in the next five to ten years, and the medium and long-term threat is very great.

As for Japan, its industrial capacity developed rapidly. In 1894, Japan produced 800 tons of steel and 700,000 tons of iron, ranking 17th in the world. The main force of the navy was destroyed, and within a few years, there were only a few old coastal defense ironclad ships and old cruisers of the West Sea Fleet, which were not threatened within three years.

In 1894, the Qing Empire produced 1,300 tons of steel and 1.9 million tons of iron. The domestic demand was 120,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million tons of iron, almost entirely relying on imports.

Compared with the Westernization Movement of the Qing Empire, Japan's Meiji Restoration reform was relatively thorough. Japan's future development speed is still faster than that of the Qing Empire, and the threat to the Qing Empire three to five years later is very high.

France's pig iron production increased from 110,000 tons in 1820 to 3.38 million tons in 1894. During the Second Industrial Revolution, France's steel production increased from 1.18 million tons in 1870 to 1.9 million tons in 1894, while the United States increased from 120,000 tons to 8 million tons during the same period.

Because France lost Alsace and Lorraine during the Franco-Prussian War, France's original industrial base was occupied by the Germans. Otherwise, France would not have become the fifth in the world and ranked behind Tsarist Russia.

The greater the achievements of the Germans, the more they hurt the French's feelings. This is getting deeper and deeper, and the accounts must be settled sooner or later.

After all, France is an old industrial power. Although it has become the fifth, its industrial accumulation over hundreds of years has made France relatively strong. In order to maintain its overseas colonies, France must maintain its navy at 60% of the British Navy.

As Britain launched all-steel battleships, a large number of French armored iron battleships were immediately out of date. This loss was huge. After a few years of pain, the French Navy finally started to build the Brennus class battleships, imitating the British monarchy class, and built the two battleships Brennus and Charlesmartel, with configurations similar to the British monarchy.

Since the French Navy is still in the exploratory stage, it has not been built on a large scale, and the French Far East Fleet only has a batch of old-fashioned iron battleships and armored cruisers. Since the Sino-French War, the French Navy has become very honest and does not easily provoke the Qing Empire. Therefore, Wang Chenhao believes that the French Far East Navy is not very threatening.

Finally, Wang Chenhao set his sights on the UK.

In 1894, the UK had a steel production of 4.9 million tons and a pig iron production of 9.1 million tons, ranking third in the world, second only to Germany.

However, Wang Chenhao knew in his heart that he would be the world overlords in the next twenty years and that no one could defeat the Royal Navy.

Since the first all-steel battleship, the King of True, was launched into service, the British Navy has been the leader in new technologies. Navy of various countries have imitated the kingship class as the model to create their own all-steel battleships.

What Wang Chenhao wanted to buy the most was the Fearless Level Battleship with a unified main gun caliber, but the kind of advanced battleship that crossed the ages did not appear until 1905. Even if Wang Chenhao proposed it, he still had no ability to build it.

Without the dreadnought, Wang Chenhao could only choose the best one from the former dreadnoughtnoughts of various countries.

Among the two battleships currently built by the UK, one is the iconic Monarch-class battleship, and the other is a reduced version of the Baverre-class battleship targeting Russia in the Far East. However, there is also a new type of battleship under construction, which is majestic.

In 1895, the Royal Navy started construction of a 14,000-ton majestic first-class battleship, which was built by the famous warship designer Sir William White (the new 40-diameter 3 dual main gun. The hull covered by armor was bent under the armor belt. The main gun can fire armor-piercing shells with smokeless gunpowder, and its penetration ability is much stronger than the previous 305 main gun.

At the same time, in response to the airworthiness issues of the monarch-level and export-type Fuji-level airworthiness issues, Sir White no longer forces the Fuji-level extreme speed, which damages the hull too much. Instead, it sets the standard speed of 17 knots with better damage to the pipe, which increases stability, and increases the freeboard and widens the cabin, so that the warship roll cycle reaches 17 seconds, greatly improving the ocean-going airworthiness.

The British Navy had high hopes for this warship and planned to build nine ships, which had high reliability that allowed it to serve until after World War I, and its excellent airworthiness in escort won numerous praises.

This warship is undoubtedly the first choice, but in Wang Chenhao's view, the majestic powerful artillery is disproportionate to her 203mm Harvey steel armor protection. In terms of thickness and quality, Harvey steel is less than five to seven millimeters weaker than Krupp's armor, at the same strike strength, Harvey steel is more than five to seven millimeters weaker than Krupp.

At this time, although the German navy is not as strong as the United Kingdom, Germany's advanced industrial technology is stronger than that of the United Kingdom. Wang Chenhao hopes that the Dengyun-class battleship will use majestic designs, but it is best to replace it with German Krupp armor. In this way, the Dengyun-class will surpass the Japanese Fuji-class battleships in terms of firepower, protection, tonnage and airworthiness.

The speed of the Majestic Level 17 knots will be better in terms of stability. The Fuji level cannot maintain the speed of 18 knots for a long time, so there is no difference in the speed of the Cloud Level using the 17 knots.

Wang Chenhao built a planning blueprint for the Dengyun-class battleship. Ding Ruchang and others thought it was very good, so they waited for Li Hongzhang to come back and finalize it. However, it depends on how much money Li Hongzhang can get. According to Wang Chenhao's estimate, the unit price of the Dengyun-class battleship is at least 11 million taels of silver.

"This is too expensive!" Ding Ruchang couldn't help but frown.

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "This is just a naked ship, only including basic needs. If you install a telephone system and radio communication, you will have to 12 million taels."

Deng Shichang and others came over and asked, "We know the telephone system, which is available in the British Concession in Shanghai, but what is this radio system? We have never heard of it, what is it for?"

Wang Chenhao was stunned for a moment, thinking that it had been too much, but then he thought that the radio system had already come out in 1893, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "There is a man named Nikola Tesla in the United States. Two years ago, he publicly displayed radio communications for the first time in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. You can understand that our telegraph machine can send and receive messages without wires."

"Radio, can I send a report without using wires? This is new." Deng Shichang and others looked surprised, but they heard many surprises from Wang Chenhao, so they were immune and were not interested in radio.

Lin Taizeng suddenly said: "Jin Hao just said that he would install telephones and radio systems on the warship. This phone can transmit messages and commands within the ship without yelling. Since this radio can send messages without wires, the fleet can use radio communication, which saves the trouble of not being able to see the flag words clearly."

Liu Buchan said happily: "This is a good thing!"

"Good things must be expensive!" Ding Ruchang couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Chen Hao said just now, adding these expensive equipment will cost 12 million taels of silver. Things are good, but unfortunately, our Qing Dynasty is poor and cannot afford it."

Everyone suddenly looked disappointed.
Chapter completed!