My Italy

The strange situation in Rome's political arena did not last long. In March, National Socialist Cruz and Prime Minister Antonio publicly appeared hand in hand, announcing that the tense situation had subsided.

Of course, calming down this tense situation is not without cost, as there are two more members of the National Socialist Party in the cabinet. Istvan Tamasi as Minister of Labor, Ricardo Díaz as Minister of Transport.

This is obviously a deal. The prime minister used these two not-so-popular positions to win over the National Socialist Party to avoid embarrassing himself. The National Socialist Party is not at a loss either. It can allow more people to enter the cabinet to experience the operation of the government and make plans for the future.

But when they are happy, other parties are unhappy, especially those on the right. For this reason, they accused the National Socialist Party of being a traitor to the right-wing party and a right-wing party in disguise.

However, no matter how much they clamor, this cannot change anything, and the political undercurrent arising from the parliamentary elections has basically been calmed down.

Faced with such a result, Carlo, as the king, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want to do multiple-choice questions. Although he single-handedly supports the National Society, he has not yet decided whether to let him come to power.

The reason is very simple, because this kind of far-right or far-left political party is very difficult to control. Although it is very good at integrating the country, it is a seven-injury fist that hurts others first.

Therefore, Carlo has always been very hesitant about the far-right National Socialist Party. Although the top leaders of the National Socialist Party do not seem to be as extreme as the younger generations, and there are no people with extraordinary talents, but who can say clearly about this kind of thing.

Well now, at least the National Socialist Party realized that it was not enough to form a government, which allowed Carlo to have one less multiple-choice question to answer.

When the Roman political scene was gradually calming down, a group of different guests came to the military port in Venice.

"Is this the new battleship?"

On the dock, a foreign soldier wearing a marshal's uniform was looking at the new battleship named Dreadnought with envy.

"Marshal Tirpitz, this is our country's latest battleship."

The German Navy Minister was accompanied by the Italian Navy Minister, Admiral Agier. As for the two people behind them, there were naval officers from Germany and Italy.

As for Marshal Tirpitz, he came all the way to Venice just for this new battleship.

Tirpitz knew the data about this battleship that he had seen for the first time. The standard displacement is 19,100 tons and the full load displacement is 22,500 tons. The firepower is 8 305mm 45 times caliber main guns and 14 105mm single-barreled secondary guns. The thickest armor is 300 mm and the speed is 22 knots. A battleship with such a large displacement had such excellent performance, which made Tirpitz full of envy of Italian battleship designers.

Of course, this is the literal data he learned. As for whether it can be achieved specifically, he needs to ask his Italian colleagues.

"Let's go up and take a look first."

At the invitation of Admiral Yagier, German officers headed by Marshal Tirpitz boarded the Dreadnought. Tirpitz took the German officers to look at the turret, sailor cabin, officer cabin, power cabin, etc.

"Such an excellent battleship, this is a masterpiece that spans the ages." Tirpitz couldn't help but praise after looking around the battleship. As a naval admiral who understands the navy, Tirpitz is very aware of the role of a good battleship on the navy.

If nothing else, take the Dreadnought as an example. If its performance is as claimed by the Italian Navy, it will be much more powerful than Germany's latest Braunschweig-class battleship.

Germany's currently most powerful Braunschweig-class battleship has a displacement of 14,208 tons (standard) and 15,394 tons (full load). It is equipped with four 305mm twin main guns, eight 210mm secondary main guns, and four 88mm main guns. L/45 gun, 4 500mm water torpedo tubes. The main armor belt is 225mm, the deck is 50mm-127mm, the turret is 225mm, and the command tower is 254mm. Powered by three 3-stage expansion steam engines, 3 shafts, 18,000 horsepower, a maximum speed of 19 knots, and an endurance of 6,500 nautical miles/10 knots.

At first glance, it is clear that this performance is not as good as the Dreadnought. At least two Braunschweig-class battleships can compete with it, and they are still at a disadvantage. Because the opponent's ship is fast and the initiative on the battlefield is also in the opponent's hands, it is up to the opponent to decide when and where they want to fight.

"But the cost is also extraordinary."

Facing Tirpitz's praise, Admiral Yagier felt a toothache when he thought of the cost of the ship. Although Italian shipbuilding has always been known for its high performance and high cost, the construction cost of the ship has set a new high for the Italian Navy. .

"How much?"

"42.87 million lire."

The price quoted by Admiral Yagir moved Tirpitz, but when he thought about the combat effectiveness of the ship, the navies of all countries would inevitably need to build this type of warship in the future.

In fact, this cost is already a bit lower than the Dreadnought built by the British Empire in history. However, the Italian Dreadnought is a 19,100-ton ship, which is a full thousand tons higher than the ship of the British Empire in history. It is also cheaper than the other ship. There are two main reasons.

On the one hand, Italy has plenty of time and does not require workers to work overtime, so labor costs should be saved. (The construction of the historical dreadnought ship started on October 2, 1905, was launched on February 10, 1906, and entered service on December 2, 1906. You can see how fast the ship was)

Secondly, the purchasing price of Italian armor steel is cheap. That's right, the Krupp and Harvey armor steel currently used by the navies of various countries are 100 pounds per ton, compared with 6-8 pounds per ton for ordinary steel. (There is ample evidence to prove that the two world armor steel suppliers are playing tacit understanding). The purchase price of armor steel authorized by Italy from Krupp is only 19.7 pounds per ton. This warship requires thousands of tons of armor steel, and the price can be imagined.

After Tirpitz heard Admiral Yagier report the price, he looked at Cuniberti on the other side and became more and more jealous. It would be great if this talented battleship designer was a German.

"Kuniberti, congratulations on designing another epoch-making masterpiece."

Tirpitz greeted his old friend sincerely.

"Marshal, you are over-rated. This is just a product of the times. The new large-caliber artillery combines the rate of fire and power. Sooner or later, everyone will find that the two-caliber main gun is becoming less and less cost-effective. And the improvement in armor performance, then Coupled with the reform of the power system, battleships with unified caliber, full armor and high speed will appear sooner or later, but I am just a little ahead of schedule."

Facing Marshal Tirpitz's praise, Cuniberti didn't dare to bear it. And he also knew that the marshal secretly wanted to invite him to the German Admiralty more than once, and even persuaded the Kaiser to give him the title of earl for this purpose. Fortunately, Cuniberti woke up quickly, otherwise he would have almost complied.

"Kuniberti, you're so polite. Sometimes a quick step can change a lot. This is the difference between geniuses and ordinary people, and you are the genius among geniuses."

Tirpitz spared no effort in praising a person, which surprised the German admirals behind him. Although this Kuniboti designer is very good and much better than the German designers, you can't praise him without any bottom line.

Although these German generals failed to see through Tirpitz's approach, Admiral Yagier was not ambiguous at all and stepped forward to pull him. "Your Excellency Tirpitz, let's go up to the command tower and take a look. Our most advanced communication equipment is installed there."

Before leaving, he gave Cuniberti a wink, but after receiving the hint, Cuniberti stopped following him and instead changed direction. After he turned a section of the deck, the sound coming from the cabin caught his attention.

"Pulese, don't talk nonsense. Sir Cuniberti will definitely punish you if he hears it."

"Grosso, don't worry too much. They are on the deck. And I was wrong. The Dreadnought is not very good at protecting against torpedoes. It has a small number of anti-torpedo compartments. I have calculated that it only takes two A 533mm heavy-duty torpedo, the Dreadnaught’s mine protection structure cannot withstand it.”

"You're crazy, talking about Italy's best warship designer here."

Hearing someone discussing the shortcomings of his battleship, Kuniberty couldn't sit still and immediately appeared in front of the two of them. "Then tell me, how to design a lightning protection compartment?"

Facing the sudden appearance of Cunibody, the two young men were frightened. It was obvious that they knew Cunibody.

"I'm sorry, Sir Cuniberti, but my friend is drunk and talking nonsense."

One of the young men with short hair quickly apologized to Cuniberti.

Cuniberti ignored the man's apology and looked at the other one instead. "You are Pugliese. Tell me how to change my lightning protection design. If you are right, you will be rewarded."

Faced with Cuniberti's words, the young man named Pugliese took courage and said. "Sir Cuniberti, this is what you said."

"I said it, and I will never go back on it."

"I think that current warships do not pay enough attention to underwater threats. Many warships only have a dozen or so simple watertight cabins to protect against torpedoes. Although our country's warships attach great importance to the deadly threat of torpedoes, they are just adding more watertight cabins. In addition, a mine protection protrusion is added to the side of the ship, which will affect the speed and steering of the warship."

So I have an opinion. In the underwater part of the battleship, we do not need to use the current mine protection compartments, nor do we need to use mine protection protrusions that affect the performance. We use a mine protection device I designed, which I call a double layer. Barrel structure lightning protection system. First, the lightning protection device is to set up a larger cylindrical structure in the center, and then design a circle of small cylindrical structures around the cylindrical structure. We can pour liquid into these cylindrical structures. When a torpedo hits the device, the violent explosion shock wave can first be borne by the first layer of small barrel structures at the impact point, then the center barrel structure can continue to bear it, and then other small barrel structures. "

Cuniberti understood what this young man named Pugliese said. And I have to admit that this guy named Pugliese’s idea is really unique. The barrel-shaped lightning protection structure does sound much better than lightning protection compartments and lightning protection protrusions. Of course, further testing is needed to know the specific situation.

At this time, Cuniberti looked at the young man named Pugliese with admiration in his eyes. "What's your full name?"

"Umberto Pugliese."

"You come to the Naval Design Institute to find me tomorrow."

After saying these words, Cuniberti left, leaving only a confused Pugliese.

"Pulese, you are making a lot of money. Sir Cuniberti is definitely going to recruit him. This is the best warship design department in Italy. You are making a lot of money."