The death of General Makanov was perhaps a relief for him. But for Essen, it was a heavier courage to be handed over to him, and from now on, he had to make some plans for the future of the Russian Navy. During the period of being prisoners, the Huaxia Navy did not put all these Russian prisoners of war in prisoner of war camps, but agreed that some Russian officers and men stayed on the warships to take care of their warships. Of course, the bolt or something will definitely have to be removed. Fuel and ammunition are definitely to be taken away as well. Supplies were also kept as low as possible. Food and fresh water on board cannot exceed three days' reserves.

The Chinese Navy has no interest in these warships, and after the war, it will retire a number of warships, how can it take a fancy to these second-rate warships of Russia? Moreover, under the deliberate action of the Chinese Navy, the British had already told Essen and other senior officers about the idea of the Chinese Republic agreeing to Russia to redeem the captured warships after the war.

At this time, Essen was sitting in Makanov's office. Of course, at this time, he did not want to remember the old sailor who helped him and even did not forget to pull himself to the position of future commander of the Russian fleet in the last moment. He now has a more important thing to do, and that is how to chart a feasible path for the post-war Russian Navy. The Russian Navy's once one of the world's top five powerful fleets had been completely wiped out at this time. Except for a few torpedo boats that were still docked in Batavia, there were only the last three capital ships. At this time, there were only a few old dreadnoughts left in the Black Sea. And the Baltic, which has always been regarded as the backyard of the Russians, does not even have these dreadnoughts. For the sake of this battle, the Russians emptied the Baltic Fleet more! Almost all the Russian warships that could be put on the table were sent out!

"We didn't just lose East Asia. Moreover, having lost the Baltic and Black Seas, His Majesty the Tsar had always wanted Andrei's flag to fly in the Far East, but the ultimate result was that the pond on his doorstep was thrown away for the sake of this vain goal. "Look at the large-scale charts hanging in the conning tower. Essen had mixed feelings. Needless to say, the Baltic Sea is now the world of the German High Seas Fleet, or it will always be the world of the High Seas Fleet in the future, and no matter how fierce the Russians are, they will definitely not be the main fleet of the second industrial power in the world. As for the Black Sea Fleet? Now they are all old warships, and they do not have access to the Mediterranean, there is no problem in fighting the current Turkey, but once the fleets of Italy and Austria-Hungary enter the Black Sea. Then the Black Sea Fleet is only squatting at home!

It can be predicted that in the near future, the Russian Navy will almost have to start from scratch! In terms of hardware, starting with the lowest-level torpedo boats and light cruisers, all the way up to the new dreadnoughts, they had to be rearmed. The software side is still better. Some naval officers and sailors have been retained to some extent, and this can be used as a skeleton to restore combat effectiveness relatively quickly, and as long as funds allow, then the process of rebuilding the Russian navy is still very fast. Of course, there are two points that cannot be avoided. That is, the funds are not abundant at this stage. And the gap between the Russian Navy and the German High Seas Fleet will also grow! Essen does not want to have the right to control the Baltic Sea, as long as he can guard the port of his home, he will be satisfied!

According to Essen's estimates, for a long time, until the new Russian dreadnoughts could not be put into service, surface ships alone could not contain Germany's ambitions. The three outdated dreadnoughts were vulnerable to a sturdy high seas fleet, and their greatest role was to use them as mobile batteries in the harbor. And in the narrow Baltic Sea, the role of submarines and mines will be quite noticeable. At least it would have given the German fleet some fear. But it's just a fear. The pace of expansion of the German Navy was taken into account and the pace of possible construction of the Russian Navy in the future was compared. Essen found that even if all goes well, Russia will be in the next 6 years. It would be nice to be able to complete 4 new Dreadnoughts! And this was only the number of a German detachment. Quality is not included.

Then, looking at the terrain, Essen sadly discovered that the existence of the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea depended not on the Russian fleet, but on the rivalry between the two powerful fleets of Britain and Germany. And whether the Germans intended to move the Russian fleet. In naval battles throughout Northern Europe, the Russian fleet would inevitably be reduced to a supporting role. If you take the initiative to attack, you can only use some submarines to carry out a sneak attack, and the task of the main fleet has become to defend the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga in order to prevent the Germans from launching a surprise attack from the rear of the Russian flank under the cover of the superior fleet, forming a flanking attack on the Russian army on the front line.

In particular, St. Petersburg, located at the end of the Gulf of Finland, was one of the most important Russian cities, and if the German army landed here, the main force of the Russian army would have to go north in order to defend the city founded in the name of Peter the Great. In this way, the Russian army, which is inferior in mobility and firepower, will be forced to disperse its forces, and in the face of the fierce German army, the battlefield situation of the Russian army will be very passive.

The same situation will be repeated in the Black Sea. In Essen's view, once the war began, Greece would be wiped out by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turkish Empire in a very short period of time, so that the entire Eastern Mediterranean would become the domain of the Italian-Austrian navy, and the Turkish navy might not be a concern, but if the Italian-Austrian navy entered the Black Sea, it would be a devastating blow to the Black Sea Fleet, and they might not be able to break through the well-defended fortress of Sevastopol in a short time. But these two fleets can definitely cover the landing of an army in Ukraine! Then destroy the most important granary of Russia. The Russian Army may not be able to guarantee even the most basic numerical superiority over the German, Austrian, and Turkish armies, although the main German forces will be against Britain and France. But the remaining strength is not something that the backward country of Russia can fight. If the troops want to sprinkle sesame salt and generally distribute them on a vast front, then the result will inevitably be quite tragic!

So from now on, all Essen had to think about was how to delay as much time as possible for the German Navy and the Italian-Austrian Navy to open up landing grounds. However, as far as the current state of the Russian Navy is concerned, Essen is also a clever woman who has no rice to cook. The difference in force was so great that Essen thought that even God could not stop it. At this time, Essen remembered a proposal of the British, that is, to deploy only light warships and submarines in the Baltic and Black Seas, while the main forces of the Russian fleet left the mainland for Britain. The strengthened British Grand Fleet would crush the German High Seas Fleet in the shortest possible time, thus resolving the Baltic crisis once and for all.

And for this suggestion, Essen just laughed it off. The reason for this was simple: if the Germans had deployed minefields of sufficient width near their naval bases, combined with a strong high seas fleet, they could have left the British fleet in vain. Through the Kiel Canal, the German fleet could pass freely between the Baltic and North Seas, and even if they took 10,000 steps back, what if the British swept away all the minefield bases and military ports in the direction of the German North Sea? Through the Kiel Canal, the main forces of the German Navy could withdraw to the Baltic. Could the British fleet still pass through the Skagerrak Strait and then cross all of Denmark to the Baltic to trouble the Germans? Isn't this fasting?

On the contrary, it would have been more convenient for Germany to take the initiative, since the British could not have made the entire North Sea line impregnable, and the cost was too much to bear. The British's suggestion was nothing more than an attempt to play the trick of the white wolf with empty gloves, and then borrow the money of the Russians to strengthen the British Grand Fleet, and from the present situation, the British were already very afraid of the German High Seas Fleet, and the gap between the two sides may not be as great as it seems on paper. After all, there were too many old ships in the British fleet. These warships were of no use other than escort.

While Essen was busy considering the future of the Russian fleet, Nicholas II was planning the composition of the future Russian fleet on a map in the distant Russian court. Although the navy has been wiped out, and although the army in the Far East is on the verge of destruction, all this will not hinder the interest of the last tsar, for the simple reason that Britain and France have formed an alliance with Russia. And the tsar believed that his defeat was not because the combat power of the Chinese Republic was really stronger than that of the great Russia, but because at the beginning of this war, almost all the great powers were on the side of China. In other words, he believed that Russia had been defeated by the great powers of Britain, France, and Germany, and not by the fledgling powers of the Far East.

And now the situation has changed, and the two superpowers, Russia and Britain and France, have formed an alliance. Even if it fails this time? Now Lao Tzu has money, and in the eyes of this tsar, as long as he has money, he has everything, and the wave of domestic opposition is just a passing cloud in front of the Russian army, which is armed to the teeth. Nicholas II believed that he and his army could definitely become a real force with sufficient funds. All kinds of chariots and artillery and other novelties are definitely necessary. By the way, the Navy must not forget yet.

In the face of the German High Seas Fleet blocking his doorstep, although Nicholas II did not have any temper at all, he formulated a new naval expansion plan, in which the Russian Navy will build ten dreadnoughts for the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet in the future in six years. They will be modeled after the Longtai class in Huaxia, and each battleship will have no less than 12 guns of firepower. The first few of them will be equipped with the newly developed 12-inch 50L main guns of the British. The ships in the back were to be armed with 14-inch guns.

Nicholas II was still thinking about how to use this powerful fleet to flank the German High Seas Fleet with the British and win the war, and even had the idea of returning to East Asia with the British and French fleets to seek revenge on the Chinese Navy after the end of the European War. To the tsar's surprise, his future fleet commander was still worried about how to hold his doorstep. And he himself will never see a day when the Russian fleet will cross the oceans!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. (To be continued......)