My Italian

Text Chapter 439 The Russians' Intention to Purchase the Ship

The early morning sun shines through the bright windows in the room, apparently so harmonious. And Carlo is working hard in the room, and there are many documents on the table that need to be processed by him, all of which need to be signed.

Just as Carlo was busy working, he heard the voice of the attendant from outside the door. "Your Majesty, Foreign Minister Bakona has something to see."

"Please come in."

Hearing that the foreign minister was coming, Carlo immediately invited him in.

"Your Majesty, there is a message from Russia that the Russian government has asked if our country is willing to sell the Genoa-class battleship."

"The Russians want to buy our warships?"

Hearing what the foreign secretary said, Carlo was surprised. Because the Italian-Russian relationship is not very good, on the one hand, the two countries have a somewhat conflicting interest in the Balkans. Although it is not as intense as that with Austria-Hungary, it must be affected to some extent. On the other hand, Russia is an ally of France. Do I need to introduce the relationship between France and Italy? I didn’t expect that the Russians would actually buy ships from Italy.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Knowing that the king had doubts, Bakona immediately explained it to him. Fortunately, before coming back, he asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the reason for the Russian purchase of the ship.

In Bacona's account, Carlo finally understands why Russia needs to purchase warships from abroad.

In March 1898, Russia seized Port Lushun and extended the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Shenyang to Lushun, which had already begun construction. This aroused dissatisfaction with Japan, who also peeked into the Northeast, in order to counter Russia's attack on the Northeast. Japan developed a radical shipbuilding plan, intending to complete the plan of six new battleships by 1905. 6 battleships are enough to give Japan an overwhelming advantage in the Far East waters and become the hegemon of the Far East.

On the other hand, after occupying Lushun, Russia discovered that although it had occupied Lushun, the fleet needed to perform more tasks and faced the threat of the Japanese.

At this time, the strength of the Russian Pacific Fleet was not strong at this time. Its largest and most modern warships were the armored cruisers Nakhimov, Rurik, Russia, and the protective cruiser Admiral Vladimir. , Dmitry Donsky and Pamet Zova, among others. As long as you look at the battleship configuration of the Russian Far East Fleet, you will find that the mission of the Far East Fleet is mainly to break the war, and the target is naturally the trade line of the Far East Britain.

However, after obtaining Lushun, the ice-free port in the Far East, the goal of the Russian Far East Fleet has changed, and it needs to compete with Japan for sea control in the Far East. In order to cope with the rapid development of the Japanese navy, Russia first transferred the Petlevit and Oslibia, which were built in 1895, to the Far East, but the two ships belong to the kind of second-class battleships that can cruise in the vast Pacific Ocean for a long time. Firepower is not strong. Therefore, in order to cope with the future threat of the Far East, the Russian Navy needs to build four new battleships.

Therefore, under the repeated statements of the Navy, on March 22, 1898, the Tsar agreed to build two more battleships, in addition to a shipbuilding plan for the construction of 16 cruisers and 30 destroyers for the Far East Fleet.

But planning is one thing, building is another. Russia's Baltic coast shipyards are already full of battleships and cruisers under construction. The Russian shipyards in the Baltic Sea, to be precise, the shipyards around St. Petersburg, could only operate at most five large ships at the same time.

Russian-designed ships still take a long time to build, while Japanese-built warships in Britain can be completed in a relatively short time! If you wait for the Baltic shipyard to build it yourself, you will not be able to hit the shipbuilding target on time. In addition, the low efficiency of Russian shipyards is also one of the reasons for dragging down the speed of its shipbuilding.

At this time, the only way to solve this bottleneck is to seek resources abroad to build battleships.

So which shipyard meets Russia's needs?

First of all, the United Kingdom can first rule out that, with the current relationship between Britain and Russia, this ship was built in the United Kingdom. Maybe the Japanese are more familiar than them.

Although the ally France is also good, the price of French man-made ships is high, and the French navy cannot make its own warships. Because the green water navy has been delayed for ten years, the French navy needs to make up a lot of lessons, so France is not suitable.

Austria-Hungary?

Forget it, next one.

Germany?

This was not a good choice, because the German docks were also filled with their own warships because of the Naval Act. In addition, who is the target of the Franco-Russian alliance, which also makes Russia unwilling to let Germany build ships for itself.

Only the United States and Italy are left.

The Spanish-American War that just ended gave Russia a deep understanding of the performance of the warships of both sides in the Spanish-American War, so Italy was the only choice left.

One more thing, at this time, the owner of the Philadelphia Shipyard, Kramp, was very interested in the vacancy of Russian battleships, and he persuaded the Russian government to give him orders for battleships. Under his lobbying, the Russian government had already negotiated with him, but after the battle of San Diego, there would be no more.

The delay in asking the Italian government now also shows that the Russian government is procrastinating enough.

"Just one?"

Facing Carlo's question, Bacona nodded. "The Russians want us to build them a battleship."

That's right, even if there is a lack of battleships at this time, Russia's foreign procurement is extremely cautious.

The order for this battleship is too small.

Carlo looked at the Foreign Secretary and said. "How about we ask the Russians, how about buying an extra one we can sell the blueprints for?"

That's right, Carlo has worked hard enough for this order from the Russians, and he even took out the drawings of the Genoese class.

However, Carlo's words made the Foreign Minister stunned, and it took a long time before he spoke. "Your Majesty, you still need to consider it carefully. There may be opinions from the navy."

Carlo knows what Bakona means, because the sale of Genoa-class drawings and technologies to Russia is likely to be learned by France, or it will definitely be learned by France. At this time, the Italian Navy will inevitably be dissatisfied with this.

But Carlo does not agree with this.

Because the technology of this battleship will not be outdated, and the Genoa class is completely a transitional battleship in his opinion~www.wuxiamtl.com~ After the successful development of the steam turbine, two of the three major dreadnoughts have been completed. Just wait for the successful development of the 305mm rapid-fire naval gun, then everything can be done.

So it looks at the problem from different angles, and the conclusions drawn are also different.

Besides, doesn't the Italian Navy develop new battleships?

"Bakona, I know your worries, but don't think about it. Since we have all sold the drawings and technology to the United States, what can Russia not sell?"

Since the king has said so, what else can he say as the foreign minister.

"Okay, Your Majesty, I will send a telegram to the Ambassador to Russia and ask him to inquire about the attitude of the Russians."

After the departure of the foreign secretary, Carlo now has no intention of continuing to work, considering the impact of the sale to the Russian battleship.

First of all, as direct beneficiaries, the Russians are certainly welcome. As for other countries, Japan and the United Kingdom must be dissatisfied, but this is of no use. Everyone knows Italy's attitude towards selling warships. If you give money, you will sell them. If you have enough money, you can make money for new warships that you have not yet started. Grandpa enjoy first.

As for its allies, Germany and Austria, Germany may be dissatisfied with its busy building of warships, but it does not affect the relationship between the two countries. As for Austria-Hungary, it is even more impossible, because its navy is too weak.

After much deliberation, Carlo believes that selling the battleship and even the blueprint technology to Russia will not affect the future situation.

If it is to sell a dreadnought, then Carlo may need to think about it carefully, but the former dreadnought, this is no need to consider at all, just sell it directly for the money, with a correct attitude, maybe others will buy more.

And with the radio waves of Carlo's statement, they soon arrived in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, and then it depends on the attitude of the Russians.