My Italy

The drought in Italy lasted until the end of 1897. During most of this year, the drought in Italy was alleviated with the concerted efforts of the people and the government. Of course, the consumption of relief materials in Italy was also high.

However, all this is inferior to October. A large amount of sufficient rainfall in southern Italy has lifted the drought, and at the same time, people from all walks of life in Italy breathed a sigh of relief.

However, although the drought has been lifted, everyone, including Carlo and the Prime Minister, looked ugly when looking at the ruined treasury.

This drought has put greater pressure on Italy's finances, and it will have hard times again.

Of course, on one of these days, Parliament quietly passed the Suffrage Amendment Bill. However, in the face of this matter, Carlo could only pretend that he didn't see it.

Of course, in addition to the bad things happening in the country, there are also big things happening in Germany. German Navy Minister Tirpitz, who only took office in June this year, proposed the famous Navy Bill to the German Parliament, which was also the first Navy Bill.

In the bill, Tirpitz requested that by 1904, the German naval fleet should be equipped with 18 capital ships, 8 coastal defense armored ships, and 40 cruisers, at a cost of more than 490 million marks.

Does it feel like something is wrong?

That's right, this naval bill has one less cruiser and two less cruisers than in history, and the cost of shipbuilding is actually more than 10 million marks higher.

The reason for the difference from history still lies with Carlo. After Italy shared its naval technology and military concepts with Germany, the development of the German navy was somewhat different.

First of all, in the exchange of naval warship design, naval designers from Italy taught their German counterparts a lesson.

The Brandenburg-class and Frederick III-class previously built by their German counterparts were criticized a lot. Of course, just criticizing this is not convincing. After all, if you just talk without practicing tricks, anyone can find the faults in the opponent's warship. After all, there is no perfect warship. Only after the Italian colleagues came up with various modification opinions and explanations of their effects, did the German colleagues become convinced.

Of course, in the exchanges between designers, there is someone who is still so eye-catching, and that’s right, it’s you; His Excellency Vittorio Cuniberti.

This talented battleship designer who has attracted attention all over the world has also attracted the attention of many people.

Not only did he communicate with his German counterparts, he was also invited to meet and communicate with Rear Admiral Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. After some exchanges, the two were equally impressed by his talent.

Rear Admiral Tirpitz even said that if the German warships were designed by him, the performance of the German warships would be improved by at least 5%.

As for the Kaiser, he went too far. He extended an invitation to the talented designer and offered him the title of Viscount as long as he was willing to work for Germany.

No way, for these two navy fanatics, Vittorio Cuniberti was like a hungry man meeting a delicious meal.

Of course, it was Vittorio Cuniberti's talent for shipbuilding that made them feel reluctant to part with each other. (One more thing, I have always felt that there are not many outstanding German battleship designers, and this is not a source of war. You can think about it carefully, who are the outstanding battleship designers in Germany?)

Of course, there is a reason why the two of them are so obsessed with their talents. Once when the two men were talking to Cuniberti, Rear Admiral Tirpitz half-jokingly proposed the technical requirements for a new German battleship. Three days later, Cuniberti came up with a design plan. Of course, Cuniberti himself said that this plan was modified from the original plan, but coming up with a plan in three days still shocked everyone.

More importantly, this plan is very good. After observing it, the German colleagues all said that their designs would not be better than it, which is very embarrassing.

During this exchange, German designers learned a lot. At least the problem of wasting tonnage can be corrected to some extent.

After all, the high requirements of the Italian Navy left designers no chance of wasting tonnage.

Of course, in addition to designers, exchanges between the two countries are also very useful in terms of warship technology.

The exchange of large-caliber naval guns, boilers, steam engines, optical sights and other equipment has benefited the two navies a lot.

In any case, in the face of the massive expansion of the German navy, Italy can only watch the excitement. Because of this drought. Italy's finances will not be able to recover for several years. This is too expensive to keep up with.

For the Italian Navy, there is only envy in their eyes when their German counterparts are preparing to start construction on a large scale. It would be good if they can keep three Garibaldi-class patrol ships now, and they want to continue to expand. They want nothing more.

What's going on?

This is caused by the drought.

Because the drought was not severe before, the government was under great financial pressure. Of course, I was thinking of finding money from everywhere, and at that time the shipyard had just sent away two Spanish ships of the same model. Wasn't this the plan to replace the two ships of the Navy?

As a result, someone suggested that when Italy's finances are currently so tight, the construction of two cruise ships, with a total cost of up to 68 million lire, should be slowed down first. In other words, one ship will be built first, and then construction of the other ship will be started after financial relief.

Such a proposal within the government immediately aroused dissatisfaction from the Navy. For this reason, Admiral Yagir, the admiral of the Navy, publicly lost his temper at a meeting; the navy has contributed so much to the country and worked so hard to protect the country's trade every year, but there are still people who are talking about cutting the navy's shipbuilding expenses. Don't let him meet this kind of person, otherwise he won't be polite to him.

Well, Admiral Yagir relies on his physical strength and his attitude of wanting to compete with others. Although it is rough, it is effective. This talk of wanting the Navy to save shipbuilding costs subsequently dissipated.

However, although this kind of talk has dissipated, the Italian Navy is still watching closely. It cannot relax its vigilance until the two patrol ships are halfway built.

For the Italian Navy, the current equipment and patrol gap is serious, and these two equipment and patrol ships are too important to the navy.

Of course, in addition to these two ships being outfitted for patrol, the Italian Navy also needs to pay attention to the three Genoa-class battleships that have been launched and outfitted. (Genoa, Bologna, Cagliari)

Although the tonnage of these three warships has been reduced, their performance is not inferior to the Turin class at all, and some areas have even been strengthened.

Of course, as a new ship, it is better than the Turin class which has been in service for nearly ten years.

The more than 2,000 officers and soldiers prepared for this class of warships have also begun to become familiar with the warships and are waiting for the sea trials after the outfitting is completed.

Italian naval officers and soldiers are waiting for the new ship, and there are also people waiting.