The Rise of the Empire

"Great! This is the most perfect warship, let the great and improper sovereign power die! This is a perfect warship, better than my prestige! The Royal Navy should be equipped with such a warship! There is such a The Royal Navy’s cruisers and battleships can be replaced!” Just as Jericho made a comment on the Mainz-class armored cruiser in the North Sea, Sir Fisher, the commander of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet, was very excited because he Finally found an ideal armored cruiser!

Fisher is considered an outlier in the Royal Navy. He is energetic and dare to challenge the old system. He is full of pioneering spirit and new thinking. Such officers are either suppressed or bound to make a difference in the Royal Navy system. Fan career. Fortunately, Sir Fisher belongs to the latter! And now he is the commander of the most powerful squadron of the Royal Navy. If nothing else, he will be promoted again as the leader of the Admiralty! And this is undoubtedly an opportunity to realize his ambition!

; Fisher does not like battleships such as monarchy and dignity, he has his own ideas. "I don't think anyone in this world can challenge the battleship formations of the Royal Navy head-on, and even the two naval powers can not take advantage of the imperial battleship formations! Our battleship formations are enough. And the Empire What the Navy lacks is the protection of maritime transportation lines and the ability to strike against the opponent's cruisers!"

; "The Royal Navy will face fewer large-scale fleet battles in the future. On the one hand, it is because the opponent's strength is not enough. On the other hand, because the battleship formation relies heavily on ports and logistics, the only thing that can build a navy worldwide Only the Royal Navy has a military system. For other countries, let alone whether their battleship formation can defeat the Royal Navy, it is a very difficult operation to simply project it to a distance! Because they lack the support of the base! What's the use of the fleet that competes in Oceans, even if it is strong?"

"The cruisers that really deserve the Royal Navy’s attention are actually those cruisers. Although the Royal Navy is strong, it needs to protect maritime transportation lines around the world. The vast fleet becomes very limited if it is divided by the vast sea area! The opponent's cruisers are perfectly fine. We have found loopholes, and what must be pointed out is that in order to encircle an assault ship, we often have to use as many as several times the force! This time, our military advantage is greatly weakened, and even has an impact on the entire battle."

Fisher has a very complete theoretical system for his views. He carefully analyzed history and keenly felt the possible risks of the Royal Navy based on the wars that have occurred in recent years. When he learned that the first-generation armored cruiser Mainz had a mass killing in the Far East, he predicted that this brand new cruiser would have a profound impact on naval warfare, and he even radically proposed to stop British ownership. The cruiser that is being built now begins to build a brand new warship that can rival Mainz!

; However, the Admiralty at the time did not take Fisher’s remarks too seriously. Old-style cruisers were still being built. However, in order to balance the influence of German troops in the Far East, two Centurion-class second-class battleships were deployed to the Far East. And Fisher’s Mediterranean fleet also obtained the second-class Centurion-class battleship's follow-up model-the prestige-class second-class battleship, and obtained this ship with a speed of 20 knots, equipped with 4 10-inch guns and a large number of 6-inch guns. After the battleship, the overjoyed Sir Fisher directly used it as his flagship!

;Fisher’s prediction was fulfilled again not long afterwards. In the US-Japan War that just ended last year, the Japanese fleet took only half a day to send the huge US-Russian combined fleet with four super armored cruisers ordered from Germany. The bottom of the Sulu Sea! This kind of speed is as fast as cruisers, and the powerful presence with even more firepower than battleships not only shocked the Americans, but also made the British see the immediate threat! And Fisher once very vividly explained the threats faced by the Royal Navy:

"It's powerful, it's agile, it's ubiquitous, and you can't catch him, and you must always beware of being bitten by the opponent! This is like the feeling of an old-style European knight facing a Mongolian cavalry! The performance advantage of a single ship has been transformed into Has gained a strategic advantage, and the Imperial Navy is not ready to respond!"

"And this nightmare existence is rapidly expanding. The Germans have begun to build new armored cruisers, and Russia has acquired even more powerful warships from Germany. I can’t help but ask our navy, our super cruiser where?"

; Even Fisher privately asked the ship designer he had made about relevant matters in his personal capacity, and proposed the idea of ​​designing a more powerful armored cruiser with reference to the battleships of the German Navy. The Germans installed eight 10-inch guns on the Mainz-class armored cruiser, and Fisher planned to install 12 in his plan! (There is something more terrifying than this plan in history, planning to install 16 234mm guns!)

This time, the performance of the German fleet in the English Channel made the British lose a little face, and the British finally decided to change under the stimulation of various aspects. The British began to use various channels to collect relevant intelligence, and began to issue notices to major domestic shipyards and ship design bureaus.

; "The Germans coming this time is a good opportunity for us! We can observe this class of warships by ourselves~www.NovelMTL.com~ I am now looking forward to the visit of the Germans, the Royal Navy The warship has fallen behind the times, and we should learn from the forerunners when necessary!" Fisher wrote in his diary.

The details of the German visit to the island of Malta were quickly sent to Fisher by telegram. This time it may be to ease the relationship between the two sides. The size of the originally small visiting fleet was further reduced and both battleships were excluded. Outside, only two armored cruisers visited. But this does not affect the nature of Fisher, because he doesn't catch a cold to those big guys!

"His Royal Highness, this time we exposed our most elite warships to our opponents. Some design ideas and ideas cannot be hidden at all. I am worried that our technological advantages will soon be wiped out." In recent days, Boll A group of naval officers such as Hipper and Hipper told the prince their concerns more than once.

"The performance of a battleship is not only external. If you only see a layout and think that you understand everything about the battleship, then you can only say that you are too superficial." The prince smiled slightly and pointed his finger at the Mainz. Said the double-mounted main gun. "This kind of similar thinking has appeared long ago. The idea that the main firepower of battleships rely on main guns instead of using medium-caliber rapid-fire guns to burn the deck has appeared two years ago. So warships of various countries have begun to be equipped with level 2 Gun. We just took a step ahead. The British are neither fools nor blind. Sooner or later they will be able to take this step.

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