Chapter 277 The Prime Minister is very confused

"Are you sure you're not dreaming?"

The British Prime Minister was furious.

Originally, after most of his life in political career, Gladstone shouldn't have gotten so easily, but this time he was really angry, completely, as if he had been provoked... and all of this was just because the provocation came from a "rabbit".

Build two battleships, and it’s free?

Who do you think you are?

"Prime Minister, I'm sure we're not dreaming. And we can definitely confirm that you're not hearing it wrong." Tony didn't seem to find out what kind of person he had offended, and still smiled, "And you don't have to be angry. Because, since we say that, there are naturally our reasons, and the builder is Britain. If we don't have enough reasons, how can we be sure that you will build warships for us, right?"

"Reason? Humph, I don't know what kind of reason is worthy of the battleship, and there are two." Gladstone's anger was slightly reduced when he heard this. He actually knew that since the other party mentioned it like this, he would naturally think that he would have enough reasons, but he was still angry. Because what the Chinese wanted was the battleship!

What is a battleship?

Large surface warships equipped with large caliber artillery and super thick protective armor. The most fundamental embodiment of a country's overall strength and the most direct symbol.

Battleships appeared very early. As early as the mid-17th century, three-masted sail warships appeared on the sea. Their hull was made of wood, with a displacement of 4,000 tons and 5,000 tons. The artillery deck had up to 3 layers and could carry more than 100 artillery pieces. This kind of warship completely changed the tactics of the past row combat in naval battles, mainly using multiple ships to form single column battle lines for artillery battles, and hence the name "battleship". By 1859, the world's first wooden shell battleship with steam power, the "Glory" was launched in France. The following year, the world's first steam

The powered Iron Shell Battleship joined the British Royal Navy in service. In the second half of the 19th century, battleships generally used cast iron armor, with a full load displacement of 10,000 tons to 12,000 tons, a speed of 16 knots to 17 knots, the main gun caliber increased from 200 mm to 300 mm to 350 mm, and the thickness of the hull protective armor reached 230 mm to 450 mm. In previous naval battles, battleships fully demonstrated the advantages of large ships and giant cannons, and thus became the focus of the navies of various countries' competition. The British Empire started with the navy, so how could it not understand battleships?

But the Chinese actually wanted to ask for two for free.

Gladstone had made up his mind that no matter how sufficient the other party's reasons were, he would refuse this request... because in his opinion, even if the entire British Columbia was sold, it would definitely not be worth the price of ordinary battleships, let alone two?

However, the British Prime Minister did not know that someone who made this request really did not look down on any battleship, and this person knew the future of the battleship more than him and even the British Navy Secretary.

No matter how powerful the battleships of this period were, they were better than the German "Bismar" during World War II? They were better than the Japanese "Yamato" and "Musashi"? They were better than the American "North Carolina"? Even the British themselves "Hood" were quite awesome. Although this battleship, which was known as Britain's largest and most famous at the time, encountered the German "Bismar" in less than six minutes during the Battle of the Denmark Channel, was sunk, which caused Churchill to be angry and forced the British Royal Navy to do so.

A large number of warships were sent to intercept the Bismarck, and three days later, on May 27, 1941, led by the Battleships of King George V, the Rodney, the Ark of Royal aircraft carrier, and the total number of more than 60 British Royal Navy warships and aircraft jointly launched a siege on the Bismarck, eventually forcing the German crew to sink the "sea behemoth" by themselves. But no matter what, the "Hood" must be much more bullish than the current British battleship.

Not to mention these, the Japanese later became extremely impressive in battleships. The Yamato and Musashi had a displacement of 70,000 tons, which was much more powerful than many aircraft carriers. In addition, the main guns of these two battleships were also extremely shocking, "Triple Type 94 45 caliber 460 mm caliber naval gun". The main gun body alone weighed 165 tons, and the total weight of the three cannons in a turret was 1,720 tons. With the weight of the turret armor and ammunition, the total weight of the spiral part of a single turret reached 2,774 tons, which was comparable to the displacement of a destroyer.

It can be said that before World War II, battleships had always been the main fleets and core forces of various maritime powers, occupying the position of maritime overlords.

Unfortunately, during World War II, the rapid rise of aircraft carriers and the successful application of carrier-based aviation gradually shook the dominance of battleships. Especially in the Pearl Harbor incident, eight American battleships were either sunk or injured, and since then the battleships were unable to recover, indicating that their era of dominance at sea has ended. After World War II, countries no longer built battleships, and battleships in the fleets also retired from active service. For a time, the battleships almost disappeared.

However, there are no aircraft in this era. Therefore, as one of the largest and most complex weapon systems created by mankind in history,

In addition, the ships are equipped with powerful large-caliber naval guns and heavy armor, which have strong attack and protection. Battleships are generally the core of the naval formation and are the main force of the surface combat ship formation. They are one of the main types of ships in various major maritime power countries.

No matter how Guo Jinzhang understands the other party's weaknesses and how this ship will be swept into history in the future, he must also board one or two ships. Nothing else, just for safety, or... expansion!

...

"Mr. Prime Minister, do you still remember welding and cutting techniques, and of course, a new process for building warships on a large scale?" Tony looked at the documents in his hand again, and asked Gladstone.

"You mean..." Gladstone of course remembers the welding technology. In the past few days, he has learned in detail about the role of welding technology and already knows the huge role of that technology on the entire shipbuilding system and even the entire industrial system. According to the shipbuilding expert he found, using welding technology to exchange for British Columbia would definitely be the UK's profit. The only question is whether the Chinese will hand over this technology to others... because welding technology represents a great progress in the industrial level. The British cannot transform it into an advantage by owning it alone, because they are already the strongest in the world. And other countries will get this technology differently. Because the other party will catch up quickly... Not to mention, welding technology alone can increase the speed of various machinery manufacturing, which is enough to threaten the status of the British Empire.

"We used to trade this technology and technology for British Columbia, but recently we have changed our minds." Tony smiled. "We think it would be more in Tangzhou's interests to trade these for two super battleships."

"Super...battleship?" The old gentleman of m couldn't help but curse his mother in his heart. Because he keenly realized that the other party raised the price again: Super battleship! That's not an ordinary battleship?

"At present, Germany's Volkeng Shipyard is building two turret ironclad ships for Qing Zhengfu, with a displacement of 7,335 tons, a horsepower of 6,000 horsepower and a speed of 14.5 knots, but this obviously does not meet our requirements. Therefore, our requirements are higher... The displacement should reach 20,000 tons. There is no accurate data on how the horsepower is, but in terms of speed, our expected goal is about 25 knots." Tony continued.

"Hahaha..." Gladstone had no idea of ​​being angry. "Gentlemen, what are you talking about? The displacement must reach 20,000 tons? The speed reaches 25 knots? Do you know what this means?"

"Of course I know." Stanver shrugged, "No ship in the world can meet such standards."

"Since you know, you still mention it? Do you think we will build for you such a warship with the largest ship in the world in the future and the strongest firepower? We don't even have it ourselves." Gladstone said loudly.

"You don't have it now, which does not mean that you won't have it in the future. Moreover, we believe that the British Empire has such technical power." Tony also said.

"Thank you for your confidence." Gladstone shook his head, "but I must remind you that even if I am an amateur in warships, I know that even if we can design such a huge warship, it will be difficult to get its speed to 25 knots... that is impossible."

"That is to say, Mr. Prime Minister, do you still think we can cooperate, right?" Stanford asked suddenly.

"No, I never thought so, and..."

"And, if we have battleships, we will have more say in dozens of states in the United States of America, which is also beneficial to the interests of the United Kingdom, isn't it?" Tony suddenly interrupted Gladstone and then said.

"Okay, gentlemen..." Gladstone pressed his hands lightly, "We all know that even if you are just building the Chinese... Well, I'm talking about the Chinese in the Far East. Even if you only build two warships that they commissioned to build by the Germans, it will be enough to give you more say in the United States of America."

"But the American government is building a brand new navy." Tony and Stanver also spread their hands. Their movements were very natural, as if they did not realize who they were talking about, nor did they realize that one of the uses of what they were asking for was to curb the hostility of the United States of America towards Tangzhou... and themselves, and the Tangzhou government they represented, were both American in terms of law.

"Gentlemen, the construction of the navy is not possible in a short time. Moreover, the Americans do not have that much power in the Pacific Ocean. And your strength on the east coast of the Pacific is enough to make the US Navy worry about every warship they send to the west!" Gladstone replied unhappily.

"You... look down on the U.S. Navy?"

"That's what you said."

Gladstone would not have fallen into such a simple language trap. But to be honest, the British Prime Minister really looked down on the US Navy very much because the US Navy is indeed not very good.

Originally, at the end of the Civil War, the US Navy had 700 ships, 5,000 artillery pieces, 6,700 officers and 51,000 soldiers, leading the world navy at that time. But five years later, its shallow-water armored gunboats were sealed, warships transformed by merchant ships were either sold or scrapped, and most of the river ships were retired. By the end of 1870, only 52 ships equipped with 500 artillery pieces remained in service.

It was not until the 1980s that the United States began to rebuild the neglected navy. The time was right, because the ships and weapons at this time had developed to a high level, and a fleet built with the latest design would not fall behind soon. However, no one expected that a group of Chinese people suddenly gave the Americans a heavy blow at this time!

Guo Jinzhang, a guy with little reputation a few years ago and lower status than a white man or even an ordinary black man, became the most troublesome, angry, but powerless person in the US. Not only did this guy lead his troops to defeat the federal army, but he also cut off two huge pieces of land in the United States of America, becoming a "reserved area" for Chinese workers! This forced Congress to quickly transfer the funds originally intended to grant the US Navy to the army... And as British Prime Minister, Gladstone knew more. In fact, the US Congress was not just worried about enemies on the land.

The talents transferred the funds to the Navy, because they were afraid that the Secretary of the Navy appointed by Garfield, the advocate of the "Grand Navy", William H. Hunter, who was once captured by the Red Corps with the US President, submitted a report to Congress, requiring at least 68 new ships to be built. This number implies Zhengfu's lack of attention to the Navy. Zhengfu was surprised and unacceptable, so he hurriedly transferred Hunter to serve as an ambassador and reappointed a more moderate team, urging the team to make a less ambitious suggestion.

This has already made Gladstone look down upon.

The United States is a big country, and it is almost destined to be a powerful country. But this country facing two oceans does not have any ambitions at sea... Well, the threat of the Chinese in the West is indeed very great, but this cannot be a factor limiting the development of the navy. However, after another cut of the cautious advice of the second team, the U.S. Congress authorized the construction of the escort cruiser "Atlanta", "Boston", "Chicago" and the communication ship "Dolphin" in 1883. Although these ships are made of steel, powered by steam, with double hulls and watertight compartments, their masts determine their lineage.

sailboat!

A big country, a powerful country, is still using sailboats to defend their waters? At one point, Gladstone thought that the United States would be the same as Spain. Because the navy, which before the British Empire, was also using sailboats. Of course, there seemed to be many of Spain's sailboats in wood.

What makes Gladstone most incredible is that the US Congress does not provide construction funds to the Navy every time... They plan to start over after all the US Navy ships are rusted?

Gladstone is very glad that he is the British Prime Minister because such a thing will never happen in the UK. If he is the president of the United States, even if he is just an American citizen, he will be so angry that he will suffer from the actions of the US Congress and the current situation of the US Navy. Look, the Chinese are more courageous than them!

...

"The two battleships, and the displacement is also required to reach 20,000 tons, the design requirements for other aspects are probably extremely powerful. If the guys from the US Navy knew, those guys from the US Congress knew, would they be scared to death?" Gladstone suddenly wanted to tell the Washington side of the news, and then see the reactions of those guys. It's too unfavorable for the whites! Fortunately, you were all common people under the British Empire before...a group of unmotivated things.

"Mr. Prime Minister, do you agree to help us build two battleships like that? You must know that you will not suffer any loss by just building two armored ships." Tony said suddenly.

"We are not at a disadvantage?" Gladstone couldn't help but snorted coldly, "Do we still get a big advantage in your eyes, Mr. Stark?"

"We dare not say that you have taken a big advantage. But I believe that in the process of building these two battleships, the British shipbuilding industry will inevitably achieve great development and technological progress. Moreover, I heard from our big boss that the Tangzhou Institute seems to have developed something, which is beneficial to ship power or other aspects, etc...."

Stanford suddenly stopped talking, then smiled at Gladstone and said nothing. Gladstone also understood what he meant, but the British Prime Minister was still half-believing and half-doubting:

"First it is welding and cutting technology, and then it is ship power... Gentlemen, as far as I know, the first institutes in Washington State were not built for more than two years, right? Are they too many research results? It's a little too important?"

"There's no way," Tony sighed, "Our big boss has always advocated that 'technology is the primary productive force' and has invested a lot of money into the institute. Otherwise, why do you think the rich people and consortiums are willing to cooperate with him? Because as long as one of the technologies is made breakthroughs, they can gain huge benefits. Of course, this is also because we have gathered the best scientists in the world..."

"Is the best?" Gladstone didn't believe this. It was so short that the Chinese could not find such an amazing scientist. But the problem was that he could not disbelief. Because, if these information about science and technology were true, the scientists from the research institutes in Tangzhou would become the most important figures that countries around the world want to get... The best will inevitably become one of the synonyms for these people. However, even though he knew that the Chinese were unlikely to deceive themselves, he still felt that this was not stable and a bit lingering. After all, technology could not be piled up with money alone. Moreover, do Chinese people know what science is? However, if what the Chinese said is true, wouldn't he missed a very important opportunity? If Britain did not capture this opportunity, but other countries would capture it, would the British Empire be so stable?

The Prime Minister suddenly felt very entangled.
Chapter completed!