Rebirth of the Spanish Empire.

Chapter 53 Cooperation with the British

Because of the Kingdom of Spain, the early advent of the pre-dreadnought ship can be said to have had an extremely significant impact on the navies of various European countries.

British and French diplomats were on their way to the Kingdom of Spain. At this time, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy also launched heated discussions on this matter.

…………

In the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, Alexander II was discussing the matter with the Admiralty Minister.

Unlike the British who have a big family and a big business, the size of the Russian Empire's navy can be described as small and pitiful.

The "Peter the Great class" and the "Kaio Dulio class" are both battleships with a displacement of over 10,000 tons. In order to build these two warships, it can be said that the Russian Empire spent huge manpower and material resources.

But now these two warships have just been launched, and before they have had time to serve, they have already been told that they are outdated. This is something that no one can bear.

Now, the Kingdom of Italy, which is not in crisis for the time being, is doing better. After all, the surrounding European powers do not look down on this weakling.

However, Alexander II, who had been striving to become the overlord of Europe, really couldn't stand this.

"Crabbi, can you tell me exactly.

Now, does our Russian Empire’s navy have any plan to deal with the Kingdom of Spain’s ‘Castile’ class battleships? "

Alexander II looked down at the uncomfortable Admiral of the Navy. He did not anger this veteran minister who had worked hard for decades because of this matter.

After all, it is estimated that even the British would not have thought that the Kingdom of Spain, which has been in decline for a long time, would be the first to start a revolution in naval battleships.

“Your Majesty, the current Navy Ministry has not yet thought of a response plan.

But our warship designers are doing their best to design a new type of battleship to deal with this incident. "

Krabi also told the truth about this.

After all, with the current size and technology of the Russian Navy. They couldn't come up with any good response plan for this incident.

“Your Majesty, our country’s newly launched ‘Peter the Great’ class battleships already lag behind the Kingdom of Spain in terms of performance.

Therefore, in order to avoid excessive waste, I recommend suspending all current shipbuilding plans of the Navy. "

After all, the navies of most countries in the world are facing this situation now.

Although the current Navy of the Kingdom of Spain does not have the strength to build large-scale ships, there is no need to worry about it for the time being.

But this does not mean that countries with large-scale shipbuilding capabilities will not follow up quickly.

"Now your Navy Ministry will immediately send people to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to hire a group of outstanding warship designers to strengthen our design team."

Alexander II closed his eyes and said seriously to Krabi.

In the past history, the relationship between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Russian Empire has always been good.

It just so happens that the Kingdom of the Netherlands, formerly known as the "Sea Coachman", still has a number of excellent warship designers.

After Peter the Great carried out reforms, successive tsars of the Russian Empire hired warship designers from the Kingdom of the Netherlands on many occasions to design warships for the Russian Empire's navy.

"As you command, Your Majesty.

But if our country really wants to design a new warship. In terms of data, it must not be lower than the ‘Castilian level’ of the Kingdom of Spain.

Otherwise, our Russian Empire's navy may still be in a backward position.

What if we just started designing and building now. So in terms of construction progress, our Russian Empire will definitely be several years behind.

For this reason, our navy can only seek bigger and faster breakthroughs, but this method carries huge risks. "

"Hurry up and send someone!"

In this regard, Alexander II did not answer this question directly, but waved his hand lonely.

Seeing this, Krabi could only leave silently.

The successive tsars of the Russian Empire all wanted to break through the suppression of Britain and France in the navy.

However, there has always been no way to enable the Russian navy to break through the suppression of Britain and France.

…………

In the Royal Palace of Madrid, the capital of the Kingdom of Spain.

At this time, he was meeting the British Ambassador Harrison who came to see him in the reception hall of the palace.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Disraeli is very interested in the five new battleships your country has recently built.

I wonder if your country has any intention to sell this technology. In this regard, our British Empire will show sufficient sincerity. ” ˆ ˆ Harrison was also unambiguous. He knew it was impossible, so he needed to say it at the beginning. Because the purpose of his coming was indeed not here.

"Your Excellency, the Ambassador, is joking. Is this what your government means? It doesn't look like something Prime Minister Disraeli would say."

In response, Alfonso just smiled slightly.

"Your Majesty, can you allow our country's designers to observe these five new battleships up close?"

Seeing this, Harrison also told the British proposal.

The British wanted to know the practicality of these five new battleships.

Because under close observation, British warship designers can accurately judge whether these five new battleships are really practical.

Although at this period, there is no word about the pre-dreadnought.

However, due to the unique design of the Castilla class, many European warship designers still believe that the five new warships built by the Kingdom of Spain are a watershed in a new era of the navy.

Strictly speaking, the pre-dreadnought is just a mature ironclad. Compared with the iron-clad iron-clad ship, the pre-dreadnought uses all steel, smokeless gunpowder, armor-piercing projectiles and high freeboard.

So this makes the ‘Castile-class’ an epoch-making battleship from any point of view.

With the current situation, the Royal Spanish Navy cannot build a real dreadnought. Because the most important one, armor steel technology is not up to standard.

“It’s not impossible for you, British warship designers, to observe warships up close.

In this regard, I hope you can send instructors from the British Royal Navy to train our Spanish Navy. "

This is the condition proposed by Alfonso.

Because of the Spaniards' love for sailing, the Royal Spanish Navy has no shortage of soldiers.

However, although the warships have the latest technology, many tactical concepts are still unable to compare with those of the British Empire.

It happened that Alfonso knew nothing about tactics, so he could only let the navy absorb the British experience and develop something of its own.

"If you simply hope to get assistance from naval officers, then we can definitely agree to it, Your Majesty Alfonso."

Harrison promised that the most important thing in the British Empire was naval officers.

Let British warship designers observe it up close and it won't cause any big problems.

Because Alfonso knew that even if he handed the drawings to the British, they would not be able to build the pre-dreadnought ship now.

An important necessity for pre-construction dreadnoughts was cannons using smokeless gunpowder.

Whether in terms of power or other aspects. Smokeless gunpowder far surpasses the black powder used in cannons on warships in the past.

It goes without saying that the research on smokeless gunpowder is difficult. According to the technological level of the 19th century, the British would not be able to build a pre-dreadnought ship within a few years.

This is also the reason why the Kingdom of Spain did not have any technologically advanced army weapons to be unique in the world.

Even if it is as powerful as the Maxim machine gun, in its original history, it was only after the advent of smokeless gunpowder that it truly showed its combat effectiveness.

"I hope you will agree to one more small request of mine."

"Your Majesty, please speak!"

Harrison bowed slightly and said to Alfonso.

“I hope that the merchant ships of the Kingdom of Spain can be protected by your country on the Eastern Route passing through your country. In critical moments, they can seek help from your Royal Navy.

In exchange, your country's merchant ships will also be protected by the Navy of the Kingdom of Spain in the waters under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Spain. "

For the Spaniards doing business in East Asia, if the Eastern Route can be protected by the British, it will reduce a lot of unnecessary troubles.

And this is not a difficult problem for the British Royal Navy.

"This is natural, Your Majesty.

Your country has always been a friend of our British Empire, and we should help our friends! "

Regarding this matter, Harrison also felt that there was no difficulty.

After all, before realizing Alfonso's little thoughts, everyone would think that Alfonso was surprisingly generous.

…………

(End of this chapter)