My Italy

The Italian Navy has made great achievements in protecting the Italian economy over the years.

For the Italian Navy, these hardships are nothing. After all, the kingdom invests a lot of money every year, and the navy still has to show a sufficient role. However, as time goes by, everyone in the navy can feel that naval warships are becoming increasingly insufficient. To be more precise, the cutting-edge warships are becoming increasingly insufficient.

Although the Venetian Improved Class and the Turin Class are both pioneering masterpieces, the warships launched in various countries are not weaker than the Turin Class, and the trend of catching up makes the navy worried.

Therefore, everyone from Admiral Yagier, the Minister of the Navy, to the sailors are eager to enhance the strength of the navy so that the Italian Navy can continue to gallop on the sea.

As the head of the Italian Navy, Admiral Yagier certainly has a duty to do so. Fortunately, His Majesty the wise King still cares about the Navy very much, so he has not forgotten the needs of the Navy.

"Your Majesty, this is the shipbuilding plan that our navy has been preparing for five years. Your Majesty, please take a look at it."

Following Admiral Yagir's words, a thick shipbuilding plan was handed to Carlo.

Carlo did not read the plan immediately, but asked Admiral Yagir. "Your Excellency, Admiral, before reading the plan, I must state one thing first. In the next five years, the government will only allocate 280 million lire for shipbuilding costs, and will not allocate one more lire. Therefore, if the navy builds If the ship plan exceeds the quota, you must find a way to raise funds yourself."

Why did Carlo say such harsh words in the first place? The Navy had a precedent before, and not only once or twice, but the warships were launched and outfitted, and the money was spent. Then, in order to prevent the warships from not being able to serve, the government had no choice but to allocate funds, because the money was not much, just about 10-15% of the balance. The Navy does too much of this kind of thing, and the government also has complaints. This financial expenditure is originally a carrot and a hole. If the Navy gives too much, it needs to be deducted from other aspects.

Moreover, the new Prime Minister Antonio has a new attitude and is unwilling to take over this kind of bad thing again.

Therefore, Carlo's intention in greeting him first was also to care about the navy and avoid any major conflicts between it and the government.

Facing Carlo's words, Admiral Yagir smiled unnaturally. "No way, our Navy Department will never do such a thing this time."

However, his words could not convince Carlo that his unnatural expression had betrayed him.

Carlo opened the plan. The first page was the Navy's total scale of shipbuilding this time. The Navy planned to build 3 new battleships, 3 new armored cruisers, 8 cruisers, 18 cruisers in the five-year shipbuilding plan. A torpedo boat destroyer (also known as a destroyer), as well as various warships such as gunboats, torpedo boats, and special support ships.

In this shipbuilding list, the core are 3 battleships and 3 armored cruisers.

Because they are all big guys weighing over 10,000 tons, they are more able to attract Carlo's attention.

In order to facilitate Carlo's review, the Navy also carefully marked the performance requirements of each ship in this plan.

The three 10,000-ton armored cruisers must reach a high speed of 22 knots according to the Navy's requirements. The Ministry of the Navy believes that as the speed of installation and patrol of various countries is getting faster and faster, Italy cannot lag behind. Therefore, the new armor must be designed to have a speed that is superior to that of other countries, so 22 knots is essential.

In addition, it cannot lag behind in terms of firepower. Three twin-mounted 254mm rapid-fire cannons must also be installed to deal with the increasing number of patrols in the navies of various countries. As for the secondary guns, they will be considered after equipping the main guns.

In addition to speed and firepower, the armor of warships cannot lag behind. In terms of armor, the Navy has good news, and the armor steel jointly researched with Krupp has received good news one after another. After water steel and oil steel, Krupp developed carburized and surface-hardened nickel-chromium alloy steel, which is the famous Krupp armor steel. Compared with the Harvey armor steel currently used by various countries, this armor steel has a 25% improvement in protective performance.

This also means that for the same defense, only 80% of the weight can be achieved using Krupp armor steel. This will not only save tonnage, but will also greatly benefit the design of battleships.

The Admiralty's armor requirements for the new armored patrol are higher than those of the Venice improved class. Compared with the Venice improved hull armor of 90 mm to 152 mm, the hull armor requirements of the new cruise ship are 115 mm to 190 mm, and the armor height is also increased from 3.2 meters to 3.7 meters. The added armor was mainly placed below the waterline. This is the experience summed up by the navy after fighting the Japanese. Because if attacked under the waterline, warships lacking armor will suffer serious damage.

As for the tonnage, the Navy Department also strictly limits it. The standard displacement must not be higher than 11,000 tons, and the full-load displacement must not be higher than 12,800 tons. As for endurance, it must not be less than 8,000 nautical miles/10 knots.

It can be said that if Italian designers can design this armored cruiser in accordance with the requirements of the navy, as long as it is launched within three years, Italy can immediately regain the throne of the king of armored cruisers.

Carlo is very satisfied with the new patrol plan given by the navy. It is worthy of the Italian Navy, which is known for its high requirements. This is trying to embarrass the country's warship designers.

But when he saw the battleship plan, Carlo couldn't help but frown.

Admiral Yagier, who had been staring at Carlo, felt nervous and asked quickly. "Your Majesty, is there anything inappropriate?"

Don't blame Admiral Yagir for being so nervous. This may be the biggest shipbuilding project during his tenure. The navy is eager to see through it. If something goes wrong, how will he explain it to the navy officers and soldiers? He, the navy minister, is afraid The only option is to take the blame and resign.

"There are indeed some problems. I feel that the battleship in the plan is not much different from the Turin class?"

Carlo expressed his doubts, which made Admiral Yagir a little embarrassed. Because the king is right, the new battleship is indeed not much different from the current Turin class.

In the new plan of the Ministry of the Navy, new battleships are required to be equipped with four 356 mm main guns. The speed is only required to be a maximum speed of 19 knots. In addition, the maximum armor thickness is only 380 mm. However, considering the improvement of new armor steel , which can be considered to be better than the Turin class in terms of protection. Of course, the only saving grace of the new battleship is that its displacement is less than that of the Turin class. Compared with the Turin class, which has a standard displacement of more than 14,900 tons, the standard displacement of the new battleship is required to be reduced to 13,500 tons.

This ensures firepower and speed while also enhancing defense and reducing displacement. This is a dojo in a snail shell, and it is equally difficult.

There is also an advantage to reducing displacement, that is, the construction cost of new warships will definitely be cheaper than that of the Turin class.

The Admiralty does not focus on performance, but on price. Is this a sign that the more you live, the more you go back?

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the Admiralty, because the Turin-class design is very classic, and it is difficult for the Admiralty to set high targets for new warships.

As for the large-caliber rapid-fire cannon on the main gun, it hasn't been developed yet. We can't drastically reduce the caliber to accommodate the rapid-fire cannon. Isn't this putting the cart before the horse? In terms of power, even the latest triple-expansion steam engine cannot increase the horsepower much. As for the armor, we can think of some ways, but just thinking of ways to deal with the armor cannot significantly improve the performance of the battleship. Therefore, the Navy Department could only make a satisfactory new plan.

Don’t think that the Ministry of the Navy will only be demanding on warship designers. In fact, this is the Ministry of Navy’s rational maximization request after collecting the latest technologies. On battleships, since the Turin class is already dazzling enough, it wants to For a new warship that far surpasses the Turin class, the Admiralty cannot think of a way.

Facing Admiral Yagir's explanation of the Admiralty's difficulties, Carlo nodded silently. It seemed that it was really difficult for the Admiralty to come up with an epoch-making masterpiece again.

Since Admiral Yagir explained it this way, Carlo also accepted it. After all, I definitely don’t know more about battleships than the navy.

However, considering the development of future warships, he still had to ask. "How's the steam turbine research going?"

"Currently, the Naval Power Research Institute has built a 1,000-horsepower steam turbine and is testing it."

Admiral Yagir also reported good news but not bad news. He did not say a word about the results of this test, because the test results were very bad. In less than half an hour, the steam turbine exploded and almost injured people. Afterwards, it was found that The reason for sealing.

But after Carlo heard the good news, he continued. "We need to continue research on steam turbines, and it is best to develop high-power ones. In addition, we cannot let go of the research and development of large-caliber rapid-fire naval guns and new ammunition."

"Your Majesty, please rest assured that our Navy Department will not neglect research in this area."

Carlo still believed Admiral Yagir's assurance. After all, the Navy was more active than anyone else in the research of large-caliber naval guns and new ammunition.

"Now I feel relieved!"

As he spoke, Carlo turned to the price page in the plan, and the total shipbuilding cost of 287-325 million lire appeared clearly in front of him.

Based on his understanding of the habitual offender of the Admiralty, he should generally look at the latter number at this time.