"Teacher, the Navy is still quite satisfied with the Count Cavour-class battleships, and the improved versions of these three Dragon-class battleships are very suitable for use in the Mediterranean, and we have reduced their range and increased their speed. The firepower and walk of the 10 12-inch guns were also very satisfying, but we could not be satisfied with this, we needed to build new battleships for future wars. The Germans had to face the British fleet in the North Sea, and we had to face the French Navy, and we could not compare with the French in terms of size, but in terms of quality I hope that both the current and future ships will give us an absolute advantage. Tycho Persano, who has become a rear admiral of the Royal Italian Navy, said respectfully.

"According to Xu's meaning, the new warships of China and Italy will be equipped with larger caliber guns in order to gain an overwhelming advantage, and the Longxing-class battleships have brought the combat effectiveness of the 12-inch gun dreadnought to the extreme, and if we want to surpass it, then we need larger caliber artillery, and at present, it is difficult for the Ansaldo gun factory to come up with new guns with enough power...... However, it is said that the Austrians did come up with some new products. Vittorio Cuniberti said thoughtfully.

"The Admiralty will have 3 Earl Cavour-class battleships by 1908, what are their requirements for new ships? How much money can they come up with for the sake of these behemoths armed to the teeth? The French also had plans to upgrade the firepower of the dreadnoughts, and they were tired of the backward Danton-class battleships, and it was quite possible to design a battleship with a central axis layout and 10 guns of more than 12 inches. Vittorio said..........

"It is precisely because of this that the Admiralty hopes that Your Excellency can design a more powerful warship to deal with the French Navy, which can be appropriately relaxed to about 26,000 tons in tonnage, and in terms of firepower, the Admiralty hopes that the firepower of the new warship will be no less than 10 guns of the 12-inch class. In terms of protection. , it must be able to withstand attacks from the opponent at a normal engagement distance. In short, to put it simply, our new warships must overwhelm the French warships in all aspects! Tycho said.

"I am afraid that it is a little difficult to meet this requirement at this tonnage, and it is very difficult to put so many weapons and heavy armor on this battleship, because now the battleship needs not only thick vertical armor, but also enough horizontal armor and an underwater protection system that can withstand a torpedo. These all require weight. Go back and tell the old folks at the Admiralty. If they want a good battleship, then give me at least 2,400,000 pounds and more than 27,000 tons of displacement. Vittorio said unceremoniously.

To put it quite politely, Vittorio Cuniberti, who had become the first ship designer in the Kingdom of Italy and held a duke title, did not need to give the bureaucrats of the Admiralty a good color. His opinion can now be used to influence the Admiralty's decisions. For the bureaucrats who are reluctant to spend money and at the same time want good ships. Mr. Vittorio was quite dissatisfied, so he decided to fight for it so that the design that had taken him more than a year of hard work could be realized! …。

Since the Kingdom of Italy began the construction of battleships of the Count Cavour. Vittorio began to plan the construction of the next class of battleships, in the eyes of a designer, the best battleship is always the next class of battleship, and the endless pursuit of perfection and limits is the fundamental motivation for a good designer to keep improving! And Vittorio is such a person.

This time, Vittorio decided to completely get rid of Xu Jie's influence and build a completely Italian-style battleship. After careful comparison, Vittorio was not satisfied with the gun layout of the Count Cavour-class battleship. He's now leaning towards a pivotal layout as well, but how? It's a question worth considering, and at this time, the divergent thinking and romantic feelings of the Italians gave Vittorio a new idea! …。

If you talk about Xu Jie's plane, the battleship with the most gun barrels in the world is that one, and those who know a little bit about the navy probably know that it is the Agincourt, and the monster with 7 turrets and 14 main guns has become the holy relic of the multi-turret god cult in that time and space! But if you ask the battleship with the second most barrels in the world, I'm afraid that fewer people know about it. After completing the first rank of the Dante dreadnought. The Italians designed and built 2 class dreadnoughts, namely the Count Cavour-class battleships and the Cariodurio-class battleships. A total of 5 battleships of two classes were built, each with 13 12-inch 46L guns. And their layout has a lot of personality! …。

All 5 ships are a combination of 3 3 turrets and 2 twin turrets! The three turrets 1, 3 and 5 are 3-packed, (for the sake of description, the turrets are numbered from the bow here) while the 2nd and 4th turrets are twin-packed! It has to be said that the Italian design is too personal. And in this plane, Vittorio actually wants to inherit the Italian dreadnought design of the previous plane. Of course, the turret placed in the middle is gone, and the whole battleship is equipped with 10 main guns of more than 12 inches...... Turrets 1 and 4 are twinlocked. Turrets 2 and 3 are triple-packed. The purpose of this design is to ensure that the underwater protection width at the turret is as wide as possible.

In order to prevent the destruction of two turrets by one cannon in the Sino-Russian naval war, Leo was entrusted to specially enlarge the space between the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets and put the motor room in it. Turrets 3 and 4 also made the space as large as possible. In addition, there is a certain gap between the ring and the rotating part, and it is filled with highly elastic steel to prevent caving. Weapon protection is only the first step.

In terms of hull protection, Vittorio also intends to completely abandon the Dome Armor, as an ally of the Huaxia Republic and a friend of Xu Jie, Vittorio can see a lot of top-secret information. After weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, he decided to completely abandon the dome armor on the new warships, and the main horizontal armor and the upper edge of the main armor belt were connected. This design may not be a big deal, but Vittorio's underwater protection makes Xu Jie have to praise it! . After maintaining a sufficiently wide underwater protection system, and arranging empty compartments and tanks, Vittorio actually extended the lower edge of the main armor belt all the way to the bottom of the ship! Of course, the thickness will be gradually reduced. THE THICKNESS OF THE LAST HIGH-ELASTIC STEEL UNDER WATER IS MORE THAN 60MM! From a design point of view. The armor box design of the new battleship is already very close to the Yamato-class battleship of Xu Jie's plane! …。

Yamato, as the most powerful battleship in Xu Jie's plane, is definitely not just because of the large tonnage! Its design and combat power are definitely worthy of the title of the world's first! Yamato's armored box is as strong as possible for horizontal, vertical and underwater protection! If there is a battleship in the world that can block the underwater bullets of the capital ship of 2 wars, then it must be Yamato! And although Vittorio has not yet realized the lethality of the underwater bullet, he still prepares for this unknown demon, which means that the newly designed battleship entrusted to Leo has the ability to block large-caliber artillery bullets in the water under certain circumstances!

As for the question of power. Vittorio didn't have much of an idea, firstly, Italy could not produce its own steam turbines, and secondly, power was too expensive. It also affects the cost of the entire battleship, whether to install a steam turbine or a steam engine. How many boilers to install is somehow not decided by Vittorio, but by the Italian wallet! With guaranteed firepower and protection, the rest depends on how much money the Navy can get from the budget! So the overall design concept Vittorio is there, but what exactly the design looks like depends on the meaning of the bureaucrats at the Admiralty. Anyway, it's still a long time, and Vittorio is not in a hurry to ..........

If the Italians were determined to forge ahead and produce a good dreadnought, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, across the sea from Italy, was more conservative. In Xu Jie's plane, Austria-Hungary looks like a country, but in fact, Hungary is quite independent, and the Hungarian local council is quite uninterested in the navy! He even claimed that if the Imperial Navy's shipbuilding program did not bring benefits to Hungary, the Hungarian local council would not agree to allocate funds. Later, when King Fritz intervened and promised Hungary part of the construction work, the only dreadnought in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Combined Forces-class battleship, was able to pass the budget. And the unit price of each ship is as high as 2.8 million pounds! A Queen Elizabeth-class battleship is only about 2.6 million! Bavaria is only 2.5 million pounds, I really don't know how the Austro-Hungarian warships were built! …。

And in this plane, the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts are still difficult to deliver! Knowing that Italy's first dreadnought was launched, Austria-Hungary was still arguing over future dreadnought plans, their plans were very conservative, Skoda's 350MM heavy gun was not on their shortlist, and Austria-Hungary even planned to get a 12-inch 50L main gun. And in terms of design, they also tend to find a successful example, anyway, King Fritz just has a hobby and doesn't know much about it. As for desperately fighting with opponents at sea? Although the Austrians did not want to admit it...... But on this plane, the battle of the German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance in the Mediterranean still has Italy to play the leading role! Then after thinking about it, the Austrians felt that the Longxing-class battleships of the Huaxia Navy were still quite good, or they would build a few of them and replace them with their own new 12-inch 50L main guns. …。

So in this dreadnought frenzy, which is even crazier than history, the only one that has not been too touched is Austria-Hungary. At least for now. Austria-Hungary did not have the strength of the German Empire, and at the same time the pressure on the ground was not small at all, except against Russia. And also face the small countries in the Balkans. Coupled with the inexplicably high cost of building ships in Austria-Hungary, Fritz had to control the size of the navy, even if he was interested in the navy. "I am afraid that the control of the sea in the Mediterranean can only be relied on by the Italians." Although some are unwilling, the situation is stronger than people!

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