Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1481
This Richelieu is the Cardinal Richelieu of the era of "The Three Musketeers", and also the greatest French statesman, diplomat, father of the navy, and the first Duke of Richelieu of the Bourbon dynasty.

France used the name of Richelieu to name this class of battleships, which shows the high expectations placed on the Richelieu-class battleships.

It's a pity that the performance of the Richelieu-class battleship is also inherently insufficient, so the target is not the BIG 7, but the Italian Vittorio Veneto-class battleship.

According to Leonard Capet's request, Roque's offer to Leonard Capet was 1800 million rand, which is roughly equivalent to [-] million francs.

This price is unacceptable to Leonard Capet, 1800 million rand, which is not much cheaper than the cost of France's own production, so it is not as good as France's own production.

"Does France have the technology related to 16-inch naval guns? Can the French berth accommodate a 35000-ton battleship? If France builds it itself, can it be completed in a few years? I'm afraid ten years may not be enough." For the French government, with little personal relationship with Roque and Renard Capet.

Rock's three questions were more acute than the last.

The Richelieu-class battleship was built in 1935, and the caliber of the main gun is only 380, instead of the standard 7 of the BIG 410. However, in view of the excellent artillery technology of France, the armor-piercing projectile used by the 380mm main gun of the Richelieu-class battleship can penetrate The armor capability is almost on par with the American 410 naval gun.

The slipway in France is even more tragic. As early as when France decided to build the Normandy-class battleship, it had to reduce the tonnage of the Normandy-class battleship due to the limitation of the slipway, and it still has not improved.

As for the construction period, considering the tradition of French workers who love to strike at every turn, ten years is not an exaggeration. Judging from the speed of battleship replacement, even if France is built in ten years, it may be on the verge of being eliminated.

And there is a more serious problem. As a signatory to the "Washington Naval Treaty", according to the "Washington Naval Treaty", southern Africa cannot build battleships of this level for France.

"So for the French government, the most realistic solution is to build a battleship with a lower cost and a smaller tonnage. After all, France's enemy is not the BIG 7, but Italy, which also does not have a BIG 7." Rock's suggestion is very pertinent. In fact, the biggest enemy of France is still Germany, but Germany is now worse than France, and it is not worthy of being France's enemy.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Leonard Capet looked solemn. Since it is impossible to have a giant ship like the BIG 7, it is not a good choice to settle for the second best.

Of course, the final choice is definitely not decided by Leonard Capet and Roque, and it must be reported to the French Congress for approval. This process can be completed in a year and a half, even if the French Parliament is efficient.

"I suggest that the standard displacement be controlled at about 26000 tons, so that the full-load displacement can reach 33000 tons, and the caliber of the main gun should be limited to less than 350 mm. The side armor should be enhanced for torpedo attacks, and the configuration of air defense weapons should be enhanced for air defense requirements. , so that the tonnage is reduced, and the speed can be increased to more than 25 knots. Although such a battleship has no outstanding data, it is well-balanced in all aspects, and such a battleship meets the needs of France." Rock does not blindly pursue tonnage and main gun caliber , As far as those old Italian battleships are concerned, there is no need to use 410 artillery.

"Isn't this a replica of the Normandy-class battleship?" Leonard Capet was speechless. Practicality is not what the French government wants to pursue.

Rock was also speechless. Although the battleship he suggested was not as good as the BIG 7, it was somewhat stronger than the Normandy-class battleship.

What's more, the French government now doesn't even have a battleship of the level of Normandy, so what right does it have to dislike Normandy?

Of course, if you don't dislike it, it's not Leonard Capet's turn.

What Leonard Capet can do is to send this information back to France, and let the members of the parliament go and argue slowly.

Rock is not idle here either. The fundamental reason why Rock does not recommend the use of 410 main guns is because 410mm naval guns are not made in southern Africa.

The technology of 410mm naval guns is only available in the United States, Britain and Japan.

This makes Rock unacceptable, regardless of whether southern Africa needs to get 410mm naval guns, the relevant technology still needs to be mastered.

When the French parliament began to quarrel, Kawasaki Corporation, headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan, was having a huge dinner party.

Kawasaki Co., Ltd. is a company mainly engaged in the import and export of special metals. Japan's domestic natural resources are poor. Except for a very small amount of mineral resources such as coal, natural gas, and sulfur, the main raw materials and fuels required for other industrial production must be imported from overseas.

After the Meiji Restoration, there were a lot of domestic companies like Kawasaki Co., Ltd., but there were not many companies capable of obtaining overseas resources, and Kawasaki Co., Ltd. was one of the few.

"Today we invited Mr. Buckley from the Martinus Company. Whether we can get the mineral resources that the empire desperately needs from the Republic of Congo is a matter of one move. No matter how harsh the conditions Mr. Buckley proposes, we must fulfill them unconditionally!" Kawasaki Co., Ltd. The president of the club, Ichiro Kawasaki, broke the boat. Martinus Company is a British company headquartered in Boma, which has the right to export special metals from the Republic of Congo. Kawasaki Ichiro did a lot to invite Buckley, the deputy general manager of Martinus Company. In the preliminary work, Barkley finally accepted Kawasaki Ichiro's invitation.

Kawasaki Co., Ltd. is one of the suppliers of the Kure Naval Factory in Hiroshima. The Kure Naval Factory is currently the largest naval shipyard in Japan. The Nagato battleship was built by the Kure Naval Factory.

The production of large-caliber battleship main guns requires a large amount of nickel and chromium. The best material for making gun barrels should be alloy steel doped with nickel and chromium. However, there are no nickel ore and chromium ore in Japan. Nickel and chromium are needed for the production of battleship main guns. All need to be imported from abroad.

The Republic of Congo is one of the countries with the richest reserves of nickel ore and chromium ore in the world. The combined reserves of the two Congos exceed 2350 million tons.

In addition to nickel and chromium, Congo also has niobium and tantalum, which accounts for more than 80.00% of the world's reserves. Tantalum and niobium are mainly used to produce high-strength alloy steel, improve the properties of various alloys, and are additives for making superhard tools. For the shipbuilding industry It is even more necessary to say.

"Hai!" The leaders of Kawasaki Corporation in the room stood at attention and bowed.

"Please!" Kawasaki Ichiro was a little apprehensive. This Mr. Buckley is said to be an Englishman born in southern Africa. He has both the arrogance of the British and the cruelty and tyranny of the colonists. I don't want to deal with this kind of person.

It's a pity that the world is unsatisfactory, and nine times out of ten, the British control most of the world's resources, and Ichiro Kawasaki has no choice but to pretend.

At six o'clock in the evening, Barkley arrived at the banquet scene on time, and Barkley's assistant, Sha Cheng, arrived at the same time as Barkley.

That's right, don't doubt it, Sha Cheng is a Chinese born in southern Africa, graduated from Nyasaland University, and is now studying for a doctorate.

"Mr. Buckley, welcome to come—" Kawasaki Ichiro's English pronunciation was not standard, and Buckley immediately showed an undisguised mocking smile.

The British during this period were really arrogant in Japan.

The relationship between Japan and the United Kingdom is very complicated. In the early years, in order to curb the expansion of the Russian Empire in the Far East, Britain chose Japan as its ally in East Asia and gave Japan a lot of help. It can be said that without the help of Britain, Japan would not have won the Russo-Japanese War. victory.

During the World War, Japan took advantage of Germany’s emptiness in the Far East and followed the pace of Britain to declare war on Germany. It became one of the victorious countries and tried to gain the greatest gain at the lowest cost. Unfortunately, southern Africa started earlier than Japan, and the greatest interests of East Asia were lost. The East India seized, and Japan gained very little.

During the Washington Naval Conference, the alliance between the United Kingdom and Japan was forced to dissolve. On the issue of the tonnage of capital ships, the United Kingdom did not give Japan the same help as before, and the relationship between the United Kingdom and Japan appeared to be cracked.

However, this does not prevent the British from being arrogant and domineering in Japan.

Barkley does have the capital to be superior to others, and this "superior" is the literal meaning.

Barkley is about 1.7 meters tall, and he was out of the crowd in southern Africa, but he immediately stood out from the crowd in Japan.

Kawasaki Ichiro's height is the average height in Japan, about 1.5 meters.

Looking around the audience, Sha Cheng, who is 1.7 meters [-] tall, is the tallest.

"Mr. Sha, welcome to your presence——" Ichiro Kawasaki's Chinese is more than standard English.

Don't be surprised, even though Japan is now known as the most powerful country in Asia, there are still many people in Japan who can speak Chinese, especially the upper class in Japan. If they don't know Chinese, they can't even understand Japanese cultural ancient books.

There is no doubt that the ancient cultural books in Japan are all written in Chinese. Japanese hiragana is created by referring to the cursive script of Chinese characters, and katakana is created by referring to the radicals of Chinese characters. There are still many Chinese characters in Japanese today. I don't know Japanese, and I can probably guess a lot by combining the context and context.

"Sha, I think we've come to the wrong place. This may be the legendary dwarf country—" Buckley finally knew how to save some face for the Japanese present. He said this in French.

"Keep your voice down, some of them may know French." Sha Cheng reminded kindly.

"Hahahaha, so what? They invited me to the banquet, not me uninvited." Barkley's performance perfectly fits the current British style in Japan.

Don't look at the Japanese's high self-esteem, thinking that if they win a few wars, they are already qualified to be on an equal footing with Europe.

In fact, in the eyes of the British, all Asians are the same, and the difference is probably similar to that of a housekeeper and a servant.

Of course, the Chinese in southern Africa are not included. The Chinese in southern Africa are already southern Africans, which are different from Asians.

(End of this chapter)