Chapter 1182 The Royal Navy Still Wants to Be the Sea King (Third Update, Please Subscribe)
The gold investment craze in South Africa was the hottest topic in the London investment circle in 1884. New gold mine stocks were issued every day on the London Stock Exchange, and miracles of skyrocketing prices were happening every day.
Every day is a miracle day.
Gold is the most vulgar pursuit of the world.
This is true for both individuals and countries. After all, we are all ordinary people.
While the gold investment frenzy in southern Africa was attracting financial capital from all over London, the British Empire was officially dealing with another matter - the Royal Navy crisis.
The imperial elites of this era were not like the corrupt politicians who would drag their feet and turn all warships into welfare coupons to give to refugees and curry favor with the white left a century and a half later. Their response to the crisis was direct and swift. Almost immediately, a bill was passed to allocate an additional £3.1 million in shipbuilding funds to the navy, marking the beginning of an era of rapid expansion for the Royal Navy.
"According to the intelligence we have, the Ming Empire Navy designed a new type of warship based on the results of the "South Pacific Naval Battle". The main gun of this warship is 12 inches or above in caliber. In addition to the main gun, its biggest feature is that it is equipped with two 10-inch twin turrets on both sides as secondary main guns..."
At a naval meeting, William White, the newly appointed Chief Shipbuilding Director of the Admiralty, explained the new warships of the Imperial Navy to the officials of the Admiralty.
"In terms of firepower, a new battleship is almost equal to three battleships - one first-class battleship and two second-class battleships, and its construction cost is far less than three battleships. In naval battles, it has an indisputable firepower advantage. In view of this, I redesigned a warship with two 12-inch twin turrets as the first-level main guns and four 9.2-inch twin second-level main guns. Its firepower will reach an unprecedented height. Not only that..."
At William White's will, his assistant unfolded another drawing.
"Armstrong has just successfully tested a new type of rapid-fire cannon, which has an amazing rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute. Although there are only 4.2-inch and 6-inch models at present, Armstrong has promised to launch 8-inch and 9.2-inch models in the next two years. By then, its rate of fire will be several times that of the old recoil cannon!"
Almost at the moment when William White finished speaking, someone spoke excitedly.
"Thank God, we finally have our own cannon!"
His words immediately aroused a chorus of agreement. God can testify that the result of the "South Pacific Battle" really scared the Royal Navy. It was not only the torpedoes that showed amazing power, which made them doubt the survivability of battleships in naval battles, but more importantly, the new type of recoil gun had an overwhelming advantage over the frame recoil gun, which blinded the Royal Navy. The enemy fired ten shots without firing a single shot. With such a big gap in firepower, I wonder if you are afraid.
The Royal Navy is really scared!
Torpedoes are deadly, rapid-fire guns... are even more deadly.
Adding the two together, that would definitely cost you 3,000 lives!
Although the British had already copied the torpedo, the gap in rapid-fire guns made them lose their appetite and unable to sleep.
Now, our British Empire is finally powerful again. We have torpedoes and rapid-fire cannons. I just want to ask you, the Ming Dynasty, if you are afraid!
"Yes, we already have our own rapid-fire cannon!"
Nodding slightly and glancing at his assistant, William White said,
"However, we must also realize that the Ming Empire's naval technology level is far ahead of the Royal Navy. In order to catch up, we should not only need new battleships, but also new cruisers. After all, once a war breaks out in the future, we still have vast overseas colonies to protect."
In response to William White's suggestion,
Earl Northbrook frowned slightly and said:
"The problem is that our funding is limited right now."
However, it was only 3.1 million pounds, enough to build four or five new battleships at most.
"Your Excellency, so we need a completely new naval expansion plan. Now the entire British Empire has realized that the Royal Navy is being surpassed."
Glancing at Earl Northbrook, William White said:
"So, we need to formulate a naval expansion plan, which should be sufficient to ensure that the Royal Navy has no rivals on the sea. The premise for implementing this plan is that we need to reform and reorganize the Admiralty's warship design department and all naval shipyards across the country. This became the basis for the subsequent large-scale shipbuilding plan."
After becoming the Director of Shipbuilding at the Admiralty, William White began to formulate an ambitious plan, the core of which was to enable the Royal Navy to regain control of the sea.
In another world, it was also from the next year that the Royal Navy once again blew the clarion call to march to the sea. In the following half century, the Royal Navy has been far ahead of its opponents in technology and tonnage. Only after the challenge of Er Dezi, no one has threatened the Royal Navy on the sea.
"So how many warships do we need to build?"
asked the Lord High Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Northbrook.
"We need to build at least 1 million tons of warships!"
William White said bluntly.
"Among them, there are at least 30 battleships!"
When William White finished speaking, everyone gasped.
"More than 30 battleships! My God, how long will it take to complete this expansion plan?"
"Five years!"
William White immediately replied:
"In order to ensure our superiority at sea, we should complete this plan within five years. No more than seven years at most!"
Taking a deep breath, William White added.
"And in a few years we will build even more powerful battleships. My initial concept is that we should build a battleship with a displacement of 20,000 to 25,000 tons, 6 large-caliber main guns, 12 secondary main guns, and a maximum speed of about 20 knots... Its appearance will ensure that the Imperial Royal Navy can rule the entire ocean in the next ten years. If there must be a ruler on the ocean, then it can only be the Royal Navy of the British Empire."
Although William White took big steps!
But as he said, this is the fundamental prerequisite for the Royal Navy to continue to dominate the sea!
As for the construction funds, they are not worried. The British Empire attaches great importance to the Royal Navy. Although the Royal Navy's advantages are being lost little by little, it is also a warning to London.
London will never tolerate the Royal Navy being surpassed by the navies of other countries, and they will certainly support the expansion of the Royal Navy.
As for technology... the British Empire is now lagging behind the Ming Empire in some technologies, but that doesn’t matter at all.
"So we have no technical problems, right?"
Earl Northbrook asked with some concern.
"We have been surpassed by the Ming Empire in terms of large-caliber artillery technology. Since we are building new warships, we certainly cannot use old ones."
"this……"
William White said.
"I hope Ming can transfer some technology, at least to their allies. I think there is nothing wrong with that, and then we can get these technologies from them."
(End of this chapter)
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