"A new telegram came from the Russian side that three Sevastopol-class battleships of the Russian Navy would be put into active service around May 1915. The additional No. 4 ship will be put into active service by the end of 15 years. Three more battleships with 12 14-inch guns will also be completed next year, and if this is true, the Russian fleet will be able to pin down at least one squadron of German battleships. In this case, even if we transfer some of the warships, it will not have much impact. A general said.

"Not just a detachment of battleships of the German Navy, the Russians had 3 dreadnoughts, so that they would have 6 capital ships, and a large number of torpedo boats, who could quite pose a threat to the coast of East Prussia and could influence Germany with submarines to get iron ore from Scandinavia. If the German Navy wanted to effectively contain the actions of the Russians, it would have to mobilize more than half of the main forces. As long as the Russians move, then the North Sea is safe, and we can concentrate our forces on annihilating the Italians with the French, and then turn back to the Germans! "Churchill said his plan.

"May 1915? And now it's only January. I don't have much hope for the combat effectiveness of the Russian Navy...... The accumulation of the Russian Navy over the decades was lost in several battles with the Chinese Republic, and the last time, although a powerful fleet was assembled, the decline in the quality of officers and men has been fully revealed, I do not doubt the ability of General Essen, but his talent must be carried out! If the Germans are not too troublesome to influence the decisions of the German leadership, then our plan will not be implemented. Jericho did not have much hope for Churchill's plan, after all, the Admiralty Chancellor was a qualified bureaucrat who could coordinate all kinds of internal relations, but he was definitely not a general, and his plan could be listened to, not .........taken seriously.

"Give me three months and I can make the Italian Navy a historical name!" Betty said disapprovingly, since the Hippert fleet was scurrying. Betty became more and more distracted. And when it became known that the country's Queen Elizabeth-class battleships would enter service. Moreover, after Churchill and other high-ranking members of the Navy tended to allocate this class of powerful and fast warships to him, his self-confidence swelled even more. By May 1915, he would receive one or two Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, and Betty, with 10 capital ships, was confident that he could defeat the Italians with a single fleet.

Of course, there is a premise for all this, and that is that the top of the Navy, especially Jericho, agreed to lead the team to the Mediterranean himself! During this time, the German Navy hid in the military port like a turtle with a shrunken head, which made Betty, who took advantage of it last time, feel very angry, and even had a feeling of dissatisfaction in it, and he had contact with Hipper. This person is definitely not a master who shrinks his neck after suffering a loss. The only possibility was that the German top brass limited the actions of the German Navy. And this is definitely bad news for Betty.

And so. When she was bored, Betty looked at the large-scale charts and kept speculating about the location of the next naval outbreak. The Indian Ocean is impossible, whether it is Count Spee or Thomas they have only one port, almost belonging to the kind where everyone stares at each other. But the kind that no one dares to move easily. Germany did not dare to move because it was afraid that its return route would be blocked by the British, and the British did not dare to move for the same reason, for fear that the port of Mumbai would be razed to the ground. …。

The only place where conflict was most likely to break out was in the Mediterranean, where the Italians took over navigation and covered the landing force to go to Italian North Africa and march towards Egypt with the Italian troops stationed there. Egypt's survival is related to the situation of the two major war groups, and its importance is self-evident. And the Italian navy had to keep the sea routes open, and in this case, their main fleet would definitely leave the port to accompany the convoy for transportation, and as long as it came out. Betty definitely has a chance! …。

Although Tycho led the Italian fleet to defeat the French, Betty still did not recognize the combat effectiveness of the Italian navy, the French were nothing remarkable, and similarly, the Italy that used the advantage of "sneak attack" to defeat the French was also nothing remarkable! By the way, Betty also despised a handful of Thomas, who he believed that under the circumstances of the time, he should lead the Indian Ocean detachment in pursuit of the Italian fleet, and not retreat! In his eyes, it was definitely an opportunity to make a name for himself! A chance to solve the Mediterranean problem in World War I, and in the face of a huge opportunity, Thomas, a coward, actually gave up!

Betty clearly has better cards to play in her hands than Thomas, and now Betty has 8 battlecruisers in her hands! Together with the remnants of the French fleet, the power of this combined fleet would directly overwhelm the Italian-Austrian fleet, at least in his eyes. He liked the ferocious, agile Cheetah-like battleship. Rather than the kind of battleship that relies on heavy armor to protect and walk slowly, in Betty's dictionary, attacking and overwhelming the opponent with superior firepower is the key to victory...... And the key to using firepower is to be able to get the opponent! He believed that the battlecruiser fully combined the idea of the supremacy of the British Navy's attack! As long as he can bite the Italian fleet, then the other side will definitely not be able to escape!. …。

More importantly, Betty's fleet would be further strengthened with the commissioning of two Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, even after the Mediterranean route was cut off, as Jericho agreed. After acquiring two Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships, Betty was confident that she would challenge all Allied fleets except for the High Seas Fleet!

After some discussion, the British decided that if the German navy did not act, then it would be best to maintain the status quo, and if the Russians had acted, and then knew with certainty that the German High Seas Fleet had transferred some of its warships to the Baltic Sea, the British would concentrate all their fast warships and quickly rush to the Mediterranean, and together with the remaining French fleet, they would attack the Italian navy covering the transport fleet, in order to solve the crisis in Egypt and reopen the connection between the eastern and western Mediterraneans.

Meanwhile. The British were also negotiating with the Dutch, who eventually chose the Americans as their warship builders, but the British, who provided financial design and diplomatic support, said they needed a piece of the pie. The two Dutch warships were named Amsterdam and Seven Provinces in honor of the two Dutch capital ships that were destroyed in the Second Sino-Russian War. And both ships, like their predecessors, were designed as fast battleships. Its parent was the British Navy's own battleship Tiger, which was almost a heavily armored 6-gun Tiger battlecruiser ......... with medium and high speed.

At the request of the Dutch, the side-chord armor of ships of this class was increased to an inclination of 12 degrees. Horizontal armor was increased to 75mm. Turret defense was raised to the top of the list, and it was considered at least useful. The underwater protection adopts the 5-layer underwater protection system of the Americans, and the performance against torpedoes and mines is still good. But if you resist bullets in water, you should wash and sleep.

In terms of firepower, this class of battleships chose the American 14-inch 45L main gun with better power and good accuracy, which was stronger than the British artillery, and was equipped with the 1916 armor-piercing shells produced in the United States. There is another reason why the American artillery was chosen instead of the British artillery, the famous Dutch admiral who participated in the Second Sino-Russian War, the silent Jack once compared the armor-piercing shells used by both sides in the naval battle, and he found that the British and Russian shells had great loopholes in the fuses, and they were very easy to explode early during the collision, and they were not very satisfied with picricin explosives, relatively speaking, he preferred the more stable TNT explosives. The fuse of the Americans seemed to Major General Jack to be at least good, and the internally filled D explosives were even better. So with his support, the Dutch Navy decided to use American artillery and shells. In terms of firepower layout, the Dutch also referred to the advantages and disadvantages of twin and triple loading, although the artificial twin turret has a relatively small interval between turrets and a relatively large length of armor belt, but it has some advantages in accuracy, so it declined the triple installation scheme provided by the Americans, and completely used the ............ of 3 twin guns.

Although the defense and firepower of this class of battleships are good, if Xu Jie is allowed to evaluate it, it is worse than the standard fast battleships built by Huaxia for foreign countries. Of course, the difference here is the ability to die, if we talk about speed, the maximum overload output is 75,000 horsepower, and the new seven-provincial fast battleship with a good ship shape can make this battleship with a displacement of up to 26,000 tons soar to a speed of more than 26 knots. Although there is still a bit of a gap compared to the Tiger's speed of more than 28 knots...... But the Dutch didn't really mind this because this speed was basically enough to get rid of all the ships of the Central Powers.

The British were still very fond of these two cutting-edge capital ships, and they very much wanted to include these two warships in the battle sequence of the British Royal Navy's fast fleet. However, the completion of these two warships was delayed due to various problems in the construction period and technology. American shipbuilders said that a lot of large battleships have been built, but not a single fast battleship! More importantly, it is also necessary to press a large number of British-made things on the warships built by the United States, which makes the American industrial giants somewhat dissatisfied. So the construction period was a little longer, but now the two cutting-edge warships are finally completed. And the British began to further intensify their actions to bring it under their command! …。

And the Dutch were naturally reluctant to send their precious warships to the meat grinder of this giant beast in the North Sea. Germans are not vegetarians, but when you think that the French are no longer good in the Mediterranean, it seems that the difference between going to the North Sea and going to the Mediterranean is not very big!

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