Seven Seas Beacon Fire

These days, warship design isn't just a matter of fighting and killing between a few design institutes; it involves human relationships and social connections.

But Director Liang never expected that the moment he stepped into the conference room, he would be subjected to a barrage of reprimands, as if the person in front of him were his superior. What was even more embarrassing was that every word Cheng Mingna had just said had been heard by His Highness the Crown Prince, who was following behind him.

What put him under even more pressure was that His Highness the Crown Prince simply sat down and began to inquire about the technical details, especially the subsystems that were currently facing technical bottlenecks in the navy's large surface ships.

His Highness asked not only why these subsystems weren't working, but also what level the domestically produced versions of these subsystems could currently achieve. And even more problematic, His Highness continued to press for the reasons why the domestic versions weren't working, and why they had chosen to import them in the first place.

It's a big deal!

Because some things can't be investigated! It's not that if something is found out, it will be difficult to handle; it's that if you investigate, you'll definitely find something!

Li Che had already started taking notes in a small notebook, one by one. From the optical lenses of the warship's rangefinder to the load-bearing bearings of the main gun turret, from the competition among different types of naval armor-piercing projectiles to the kickback scandal in the procurement of naval radio communication equipment... Li Che learned one "naval secret" after another from these grassroots designers.

Many of the contents recorded in this notebook would cause a nationwide sensation if published in newspapers.

"Director Liang," Li Che's calm voice sounded like a death knell to Director Liang, "Are the situations your colleagues just described true?"

Li Che did not ask Director Liang whether he knew about these things. When he raised the question, he had already assumed that Director Liang must have known about them.

Li Che indeed had absolutely no evidence for this inference, but he didn't need any. If you, as the director of one of the three major design bureaus of the Navy, didn't know about these things, it only showed that your abilities had reached a certain level of incompetence, not that you were particularly honest.

And if you knew.........

Li Che glanced at Director Liang, whose forehead was now covered in even more sweat.

Corruption is an unavoidable "necessary loss" for navies worldwide. No navy is immune to corruption; however, some forms of corruption do not affect a navy's combat effectiveness, while others can destroy a navy that should be capable of fighting.

I won't give examples of the former, but among the typical examples of the latter, the Beiyang Fleet is probably the most typical.

In Li Che's mind, people's understanding of the corruption encountered by the Beiyang Fleet in another world also went through a series of twists and turns.

The earliest rumor was that the Beiyang Fleet's cannonballs were mixed with sand, so they were all duds in the naval battle, which is why they lost. There is a similar plot in the classic movie Sino-Japanese War at Sea 1894.

However, later research showed that it was normal for armor-piercing shells of that era to be filled with sand as a counterweight. Armor-piercing shells of that time were all solid shot, so it didn't matter whether you filled them with sand or coal ash.

But then people thought about it again. While it was normal to stuff sand into armor-piercing shells, it was also true that armor-piercing shells were cheaper than explosive shells. So, was the Beiyang Fleet equipped with so many solid armor-piercing shells to counter hypothetical Western ironclad warships, or was it simply to save money?

Then, when people began to discover that the boilers of the Beiyang Fleet had not been properly maintained for a long time and that the coal burned by the warships was of inferior quality, it became clear that although the initial rumor that sand was used to replace gunpowder in the shells was false, the conclusion was correct: the corruption and incompetence of the Qing court had destroyed the Beiyang Fleet.

Li Che was not surprised by the corruption in the navy. In fact, based on the information he had just gathered, the situation was much better than he had expected. He had thought that with a "benevolent ruler" like Emperor Yongning as the "1:1 scale model" for building a navy's ocean-going fleet, the level of corruption behind it was probably comparable to that of Ursus. After all, based on the warship construction costs he had previously learned, the Ming navy did not build its main warships cheaply.

If the cost of the Dingyuan-class battleships were converted to pounds, it would be significantly more expensive than the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships! With a cost of approximately £300 million, it would dwarf both the £250 million Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and the £258 million Bavaria-class battleships of the Leitanians.

However, it seems that the situation is much better than I expected. From my conversation with these designers, although there are many problems in the navy's system, especially in the shipbuilding industry, none of the problems have fallen below my expectations.

Even considering that the Dingyuan-class battleships cost the equivalent of £300 million each, and that they were larger than the Queen Elizabeth and Bavarian battleships and used more armor steel, the price is actually acceptable.

毕竟乌萨斯人可是用300万英镑的造价造了甘古特的，两相对比之下，同样是花了300万英镑，乌萨斯人造了装备12门12寸炮、排水量2.34万吨、侧舷装甲225毫米的甘古特，大明造了装备12门330毫米炮、排水量3万吨、侧舷装甲320毫米的定远，这一下子就不觉得定远贵了。

If you compare it to the Ursus Navy of this era, or to the Federal Navy of the 21st century, you'll find that the navy left over from the Ming Dynasty was still quite incorruptible.

"Why are you silent? Is it because Director Liang is afraid to speak?" Li Che looked away from Director Liang with some disappointment. "I can guess what you're worried about. If you say something, it's like cutting off the entire industry's source of income. But Director Liang, I want to remind you that this is the Tang Dynasty now. A new dynasty should have a new look. Since you're afraid that you'll be ostracized by the entire industry after you speak out, then you can go home now. I've long heard that many heads of the Navy's design bureaus are parachuted in, letting outsiders manage insiders. This situation is about to change starting today."

Director Liang's eyes widened. He had been agonizing over his decision for a long time and was actually ready to side with Li Che. After all, he could tell which one was more powerful. However, he wanted to be a little "reserved." According to the normal plot, shouldn't Li Che be saying something like, "Speak freely, I want to see which demons and monsters dare to jump out"?

Why did they let me go home?

"Your Highness! I know what happened! I..."

Li Che waved his hand impatiently, and the guards beside him immediately grabbed Director Liang's arm and led him out of the conference room. After Director Liang's voice disappeared at the end of the corridor, Li Che smiled gently at the people in the conference room again: "Don't worry, everyone. It's just a matter of taking a burden off Director Liang's shoulders that he is not quite capable of handling. It won't do anything to Director Liang himself."

Furthermore, I personally prefer an engineer-led management system. The highest leader of a design bureau should rightfully be the chief designer. Of course, I know the position of chief designer is currently vacant at Bureau 229. So, whoever can explain the ins and outs of this to me, I can appoint them as acting chief designer. If they perform well, they can be directly promoted to the permanent position.

This is a classic case of giving a big stick and then a sweet treat.

However, after this sweet treat was offered, no one immediately came forward to accept it. After all, for these engineers, pointing out the problems that need to be addressed during the construction of warships is one thing, but explaining why these problems occur is another.

This touches on the very foundation of the industry, and many people have quietly lowered their expectations.

No one can make such a decision easily. Li Che was neither surprised nor embarrassed by the reaction. He simply flipped through the notes he had just written in his notebook and then exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"

This sudden sound immediately drew everyone's attention back. No one knew what new continent the Crown Prince had suddenly discovered. Li Che smiled and counted on his fingers, saying, "We've talked about so many issues, but I just discovered something. Our battleship... the one we're going to name 'Dragon Abyss,' seems to have a complete power system that can output over 90,000 horsepower?"

Li Che seemed to have changed the subject. Hearing the Crown Prince start talking about technology again, some people secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that His Highness would back down. However, what Li Che said next made many people in the room feel uneasy.

"Our power system is performing very well. The engine room of the new integrated battleship is slightly smaller than that of the previous generation of battlecruisers, but the power has been increased from 75,000 horsepower to over 90,000. Our navy's boiler technology is quite good. This level of power is comparable to, or even surpasses, that of the Royal Victoria Navy and the Leitania High Seas Fleet."

That makes me a little confused. The high-pressure boilers used on warships are technologically advanced. Although their technology isn't entirely the same as that of optical lenses in rangefinders or load-bearing bearings in turrets, they're still considered cutting-edge technology in the navy. It seems like we design, manufacture, and produce these boilers ourselves. Why is it that we can produce world-class boilers, but when it comes to manufacturing the things I just mentioned, we're only at a second- or even third-rate level?

"Because we can't buy boilers! It's that simple!" Cheng Mingna finally spoke up, unable to contain herself any longer. "You grown men might not dare to say it, but I do! I want Your Highness to know that among the various subsystems of the Navy, the ones you see that are at the forefront of the world in terms of technology are all things we can't buy. If the technology of any subsystem can be bought, or if we can purchase finished products in bulk, then our own domestically produced version will definitely not perform as well!"

"Oh? Could you elaborate?" Li Che's face remained expressionless, but in his mind, he was already pumping his fist in approval. Clearly, he would soon be able to solve this "mystery" from the beautiful girl in front of him.

"It's very simple, Your Highness. This is how the Liu family has always made money: importing foreign technology and forming joint ventures with multinational corporations, then importing related equipment for production, and then quickly using more advanced and cheaper products to compete with our own domestic products. As for boilers, the Liu family can neither buy nor import the technology, so we have always used our own boilers, which is why we are able to produce such high-performance high-pressure boilers."

Chapter 140 ALL IN?

"The Liu family?" Li Che asked uncertainly, "Is it the Liu family from the previous provisional government that wanted to cede all our overseas pacification commissions and vassal states to the West and then make peace...?"

After receiving Cheng Mingna's confirmation, Li Che was even more surprised: "I remember at the beginning of this year, weren't the Liu family members already imprisoned and their assets confiscated?"

"They only arrested Liu Chengzhi and a few of his brothers and cronies who were officials in the court and colluded with him. The Liu family is now a prominent and powerful clan. This is only a temporary setback for them. How could they so easily hand over the industries and interests affected by the Liu family? The Prince of Jin is not like he did more than 100 years ago, who exterminated his entire clan..."

Li Che couldn't help but look at the girl with new respect after hearing her words. Fortunately, she studied ship design and worked in a ship design bureau. If she had studied urban planning and worked in an urban construction bureau, Li Che would have been worried that Songjiang Prefecture was becoming too urbanized.

Clearly, Cheng Mingna's colleagues also felt that this girl was a bit "too extreme." If it were any other time, someone would probably have stood up and said something like, "A young girl shouldn't be so extreme." But today, everyone was intimidated by Li Che's "imposing presence without anger," so so far, no one has even come out to provoke him.

In fact, Li Che wasn't that angry. After all, he had set his expectations very low today, but the final result was higher than he expected. It's like you thought the national football team was going to lose 0-7, but you didn't expect them to draw with Xiao Rizi. Even though they didn't win, if they could actually achieve such a result, it wouldn't be bad.

Is the Navy in a bad state right now? Problems do indeed exist in the shipbuilding industry and the manufacturing of some naval-related technical equipment.

For example, the Navy's armor-piercing shells appear to have a relatively "primitive" structure, basically maintaining the same structure as the typical soft-capped armor-piercing shells used by the Leitanian High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland. They lack both a slender wind cap and a hard cap. The only commendable features are the delayed fuse and the fact that the explosive charge inside the shell does not use kurtic acid, which is a sensitive and prematurely detonating explosive.

The reason for introducing this armor-piercing projectile was because it was based on the "advanced Leitania architecture." This Leitania-style armor-piercing projectile structure did bring some advantages, ensuring a decent minimum performance level in the current era. However, its maximum performance level was also limited. Just a couple of days ago, I was secretly mocking the Federation for still using the Midwell armor-piercing projectile, but now it seems that it is not as good as the Midwell!

At least the difference between the Midwell armor-piercing projectile and a fully-fledged hard-capped armor-piercing projectile like the Green round is just the hard cap. Under relatively small angles of incidence, the difference between them isn't significant. Now look at our own side...

After a certain gun factory that had close ties with the Liu family introduced this type of armor-piercing shell, it defeated Tangshan Metal's armor-piercing shell in the Navy's bidding. According to the documents preserved by Bureau 229, Tangshan Metal's armor-piercing shell actually had a hard cap. Moreover, as a weapons manufacturing company under the metal smelting group, Tangshan Metal's shells had the highest strength.

Unfortunately, Tangshan Metal lacked sufficient experience in the structure of artillery shells. The shells did not have wind caps, and the explosive charge used was a relatively sensitive odorous acid. The matching time-delay fuse was also unreliable. Therefore, it lost to the Leybold armor-piercing shell in the initial bidding.

However, this type of shell clearly has great development potential. If it could be combined with the Leys armor-piercing shell, using the Leys armor-piercing shell's explosive charge and fuse, then the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy could have possessed the world's first hard-capped armor-piercing shell. Unfortunately, the Liu family deliberately created technological barriers to protect their own interests and refused to engage in technological exchanges and cooperative development—"I can take all the cake, why should I cooperate with you?"

While there's nothing wrong with this behavior from a business perspective, businesses at a certain stage have to consider far more than just business considerations.

The shells are just the tip of the iceberg. Although Tangshan Metal lost the bid for the Navy's large-caliber naval guns, it still won some orders for small and medium caliber guns. The company's overall operation is still relatively good. However, other companies are not the same. For example, Handan Optics has long supplied optical rangefinders to the Navy. From the 1.5-meter rangefinders of the old Fearless era, it has gradually developed into 6-meter rangefinders.

As a result, the owner of this company was subjected to a comprehensive crackdown by a multinational optical company that had close ties with the Liu family. From 1.5-meter rangefinders installed on small ships to large rangefinders on large ships, and various other optical equipment, the company was forced to the brink of bankruptcy through a brutal price war in almost every field and aspect. After the outbreak of war, the company had to transform into a civilian enterprise in order to survive.

It can be said that these so-called multinational corporations that cooperated with leading Western companies did not help their domestic products go global. Instead, they joined forces with foreign products to suppress their own domestic industries. Although not all industries were manipulated by the Liu family (and their power was not that great), as the leading company among these essentially "comprador enterprises," the Liu family's United Joint Stock Company played a very bad role in this regard. Many comprador enterprises that followed the United Joint Stock Company cheered for it and joined in suppressing domestic enterprises.

As for power... well, let's just say it's the high-pressure boilers used on warships. The application range of this stuff is really too narrow, and the technical standards are very high. It's difficult and risky to make big money in this area. Of course, more importantly, due to the global arms race, especially the shipbuilding competition between Victoria and Leitania in Europe, boilers are in very short supply. The Leitanians are already having a shortage of boilers for their own warships, and on top of that, they also have to sell some to the Habsburgs, so they really can't squeeze out any more production capacity.

As for other Western countries... the British would never export this to the Ming Dynasty. The Federation's technology was about the same as, or even worse than, that of the domestic countries. The Syracuse's technology was decent, but Syracuse's production capacity was even more worrisome than Letania's, as evidenced by the construction time of Syracuse's warships. As for the last one, Gaul... it can only be said that the Gaul boilers of this era were far from as advanced as they were in the 30s. In addition, there was not much communication between the Ming and the Ming, making it quite difficult to import technology from Gaul.

It was precisely because of these various factors that the warship's boilers were freed from the clutches of these compradors, which is why Li Che was able to spot this gem in the warship's data at a glance.

The fusion battleships currently under construction on the shipyard, which incorporate 420mm guns and are proposed to be named the Ryugen-class, may be 10 meters longer than the Nagato-class in terms of hull length, but their four 420mm main guns take up more space than the four 410mm main guns of the Nagato-class. Although the caliber is only 10 millimeters larger, the length of the ammunition magazine section is increased by almost 10 meters.

Therefore, with a slightly smaller engine room than the Nagato-class battleships, it can still output more than 8 horsepower, which is more than the 9 horsepower of the Nagato-class. Considering that the current era is a few years ahead of the Nagato in another world, its advantage in power system is so great that only the British can claim to be the best in the world.

Fortunately, the Liu family's reign lasted from the late reign of Emperor Yongning until they were overthrown by the Prince of Jin. Their influence didn't last long. Many of the suppressed domestic enterprises, despite having suffered greatly and not achieving effective development in recent years, with some even on the verge of bankruptcy, have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

As for the other companies, while their technology may not be world-class, it is sufficient to make them the preferred alternative for the current battlecruiser project.

No 12-meter optical rangefinder? A 6-meter rangefinder is perfectly acceptable; most rangefinders in the world are only around 6 meters. The rangefinders on the main warships of some Mediterranean countries are even only 3 or 4 meters!

Turret bearing production difficulties? Domestically produced bearings severely worn? Hey! Severe wear doesn't mean they can't be used. At worst, we can just maintain them more frequently in the early stages. The early Su-27s from the Ussuriys even used AL31 engines with an initial overhaul life of less than 100 hours. That's military product! We can make do with them for now and replace them when a qualified product is manufactured!

Of course, the reason why Li Che was so calm and composed in the face of so many potential technical problems in the new main battleship project was because he never really thought that these four super battlecruisers could be completed.

As an "international student on Earth," Li Che knew very well that, based on experience on Earth, the countries that were exhausted from fighting this world war would definitely formulate relevant arms control treaties after the war, especially arms control treaties for the navy. This was almost a foregone conclusion.

Given this naval arms control treaty, it was certain that these four battlecruisers could not be completed, but that didn't matter; what he needed now was to pave the way for what would happen after the war.

In the inevitable treaty negotiations to come, the bargaining chips at the negotiating table will not only be the size of the existing fleet, but also the ability to dismantle warships under construction.

李彻很清楚在另一个世界当中的海军条约签订之前，USN规划了13条装备16英寸舰炮的主力舰，而IJN也同样规划了8条装备16英寸舰炮的主力舰并且还计划开工另外8条没有命名的16寸炮主力舰。

正是因为USN这13条新开工的16寸炮主力舰以及IJN计划和开工的这14条16寸炮主力舰，才能够真正让不列颠在依然拥有全世界规模最大的主力舰队的情况下，愿意接受10比10比7的条约吨位结构。

Because the British knew very well that the USN and IJN were genuinely serious about building these ships, and that the British were truly feeling helpless in the face of such reckless individuals.

For the Tang Dynasty, the new war cruiser plan was no different. The ships needed to be genuinely constructed and built, only then could Victoria and Columbia truly believe in them and force them to compromise. Simultaneously, this was also a psychological and propaganda war, an action to accumulate leverage for the post-war order.

The Tang Dynasty must demonstrate its determination to fight to the bitter end and its willingness to build ships at any cost, and truly invest resources to advance the work, in order to negotiate an acceptable outcome in the subsequent treaty, given its existing warships are far smaller than those of the British and its defeat in the Battle of Victoria.

These unfinished warships will not go to waste. Li Che has already made many plans in his mind. It is impossible to build all eight Longyuan-class battleships. The unfinished ships can be directly converted into other warships.

At first, Li Che considered whether to convert it into an aircraft carrier, but then he thought of the aircraft carrier that the IJN used to modify the Kaga in another world. Although it had the largest number of aircraft in the IJN, its speed of around 28 knots was always considered to be a drag on the entire mobile fleet. The Ryubuchi was even slower than the Kaga, and its hull length was less than 230 meters, so it was not a particularly ideal platform.

Although unsuitable for conversion into aircraft carriers, these hulls are well-suited for conversion into fast replenishment ships, a technology not found in this era.

The Tang Dynasty's national strength was not that of the mighty Ming Dynasty he had read in a novel in another world. It was impossible for them to casually start construction of double-digit, 40,000-ton-class fast comprehensive supply ships. However, they could take this opportunity to transform these unfinished hulls into fleet force multipliers. Especially since the Tang Dynasty had already lost the Old Port Pacification Commission and the Kingdom of Japan in this war, if the navy wanted to exert a stronger deterrent against Pearl Harbor or the Baltic Sea during the interwar period, then such super supply ships, which seemed somewhat insane in this era, would be necessary.

Without forward bases and ports for overseas resupply, we must resort to additional means to get things started early.

As for the four battlecruisers currently planned, their hulls will not be wasted. After all, the 270-meter-long hulls are very suitable for conversion into aircraft carriers, and the high speed of 32 knots can provide a very strong deck wind. In the future, the Tang Dynasty's own "Lexington" can be built on the hulls of these battlecruisers.

Of course, before that, the Tang Dynasty and Colombia had a high-stakes gamble in the Western Pacific, where both sides went all in.

Chapter 141 The New Official Takes Office: McGiffin

After descending the gangway of the battleship USS Marco Polo and stepping onto the dock in Manila, McGiffin, facing the two commanders of the Third and Seventh Fleets who came to greet him, gave a stern salute and then asked, "What is the current state of the Pacific Fleet? I want to hear the truth. There is no need to use any flowery language to embellish the situation."

The two commanders of the Third Fleet and the Seventh Fleet exchanged glances, both revealing a hint of helplessness in their eyes. As rumored, McGiffin's personality was indeed unlikable, which explained why his rank had remained at the level of major general until President Wilson had promoted him on the spot.

Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Colin Zangwell gestured for them to proceed: "This is a matter that cannot be explained in a few words on the dock, sir. Let's go to headquarters and discuss it in detail."

Rear Admiral Harold Daniel, commander of the Seventh Fleet, temporarily took over the position of acting fleet commander after being dismissed from his post. After all, the Seventh Fleet doesn't have many large ships now. However, this did not stop Rear Admiral Daniel from drooling over the fast battleship with its Mediterranean Syracuse style on the dock.

The three high-speed ships leased by the Federation from the Syracuse will all be assigned to the Seventh Fleet. This is mainly because these leased warships differ significantly from the Federation's own vessels in terms of operation and maintenance. When leasing these three ships, the Federation also recruited experienced officers and engineers from Syracuse and the Habsburgs respectively. These ships and their personnel have their own maintenance system (after all, these ships are metric), so assigning them all to the Seventh Fleet is also for better maintenance.

Although the Seventh Fleet would essentially be placed under the command of the Third Fleet during wartime, this greatly pleased the Seventh Fleet, which had no decent large ships after the Battle of Dongxinlu Bay.

For Rear Admiral Daniel, he never imagined that he would have the opportunity to command all of the Federation Navy's fast capital ships—although there were only three in total, and two of them had rather awkward performance.

However, things are valued for their rarity, and this battleship, which the Federation has temporarily named the Marco Polo and which was originally the Syracuse Navy's Caracciolo, is a strong contender for the title of the world's strongest battleship.

McGiffin nodded. He noticed the excitement in the eyes of several Seventh Fleet officers, including Rear Admiral Daniel, which made him secretly nod in approval. After the Navy suffered two defeats, the officers and men had not lost their courage to fight the enemy or their confidence in winning the war. This was a good thing. If he had disembarked and found only a group of dejected and dispirited men, the situation he would have faced would have been much more difficult.

Upon arriving at the conference room, after a group of senior officers from the Third and Seventh Fleets of the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet took their seats, McGiffin, who had arrived travel-worn, displayed his characteristic tendency to make startling pronouncements: "Our United States Navy is not a very good fighting force. We have performed poorly for most of this war, so we must now learn how to fight against opponents who are better than us."

He then walked around the long conference table in the meeting room, behind the seated senior officers of the Federal Pacific Fleet, saying as he went:

"I know that some of you will disagree with what I'm saying, or even think that I'm exaggerating or belittling the United States Navy. I'm sure some of you look down on me, since in the first half of this year, I was only a major general, and there are several people in this room with higher ranks than me."

However, I hope everyone can get the hang of it. We are not a navy with a wealth of experience. In the latter half of the 9th century, the development of our navy was almost interrupted. The current United States Navy was established at the end of the 9th century. From personnel to equipment, we still have many areas that need improvement. Some of these problems came to the fore during this war, causing our navy to suffer more than one defeat.

First, we must abandon the mindset of the superior side. We are now on the disadvantaged side. Don't think about the warships still under construction in the shipyards. What we need to look at now is the warships we have. We are facing an opponent that we have never defeated alone. The advantage we have gained at sea in the past year is based on joint operations with the Royal Navy of Victoria and us. Before that, our fast fleet had just suffered a devastating blow, which left us without a single battlecruiser of our own.

After gaining an advantage in our joint operations with the Britons, we clearly failed to capitalize on that advantage in time, and even lost track of the enemy fleet that we had confined to the port…”

"That's because we encountered a hurricane!" one officer said somewhat indignantly. "If it weren't for that hurricane, which forced us to withdraw the speedboats monitoring outside Surabaya Harbor, the Surabaya Fleet wouldn't have been able to withdraw so safely!"

“That’s just your reason, your excuse.” McGiffin shook his head. “Our enemy can break through our blockade under the cover of hurricanes and through raging waves. Since our enemy can do that, I don’t want my fleet and my officers and soldiers to use such a reason as an excuse.”

McGiffin bluntly refuted the officer; his first priority was to address the current mindset of the troops.

In McGiffin's view, the Federal Navy was merely operating alongside the British Navy, and then, thanks to the superior performance of the British fast fleet, they won the naval battle.

After leaving the Royal Victorian Navy, what role will the Federal Navy play? It can't be that the Federal Navy will have to ask the British for help every time it goes to war, can it?

"Our enemy has now broken free of our blockade with all its combat forces, and they now actually have a slight advantage in the number of fast fleets. I am pleased to see that some of our officers were excited when they saw the ships I brought, which shows that you still have fighting spirit, but fighting spirit alone is not enough."

After circling the room once, McGiffin returned to his position: "Gentlemen, let us forget about our allies for now. I know some of you are still hoping that the British fleet deployed in Singapore will join us, but countless countries around the world are waiting to see us fail, including the British."

Chapter 142 "Strict Military Discipline"

McGiffin's words were like tearing down a veil. The officers of the Federal Pacific Fleet were not unaware that the British were no longer reliable, but in the absence of fast capital ships, they still held onto hope for the British. After all, the British had now sent three battlecruisers to Singapore, while the Ming army had a total of eight battlecruisers. So, they should at least use those four dreadnought-class battlecruisers to deal with the British, right?

As long as the British can passively tie down half of the Ming army's fast capital ships, the pressure on the United States' fast fleet will be greatly reduced.

After all, the performance of the four relatively early dreadnought battlecruisers in the hands of the Ming army... oh, now it should be the Tang army, is only mediocre at the moment. Compared with the early battlecruisers of Britain and Leitania, their speed is slightly lower than that of the Industrious-class, reaching about 26 knots, which is faster than the 24.8 knots of the early Leitanian von der Tann.

However, its firepower was comparable to that of the Leitanian battlecruisers, but weaker than the early British battlecruisers with eight 12-inch guns. Its armor protection was better than that of the British battlecruisers, but its 210 mm armor belt was not as good as that of the Von der Tannen's 250 mm armor belt. It can be said to be a battlecruiser with characteristics between the Victoria and Leitanian battlecruisers.

None of these four battlecruisers could possibly defeat the Marco Polo-class fast battleship leased by the Federation. After all, the Caracciolo-class battleships not only had 300 mm main armor belts, but also 230 mm superstructures, which were even thicker than the main armor belts of the four dreadnought battlecruisers in the hands of the Tang army.

The problem was that the Commonwealth could only rent one "Marco Polo," and the remaining two Habsburg battlecruisers were simply not enough. In another timeline, the Habsburg Empire, even when it was in dire straits, still planned a series of battlecruiser construction projects.

其中便有与现在这款战列巡洋舰布局类似的、正常排水量32,000吨、满载排水量36,000吨，长230米、宽20米、吃水8.82米，配备两座双联装420毫米主炮、22门150毫米副炮，输出功率112,000马力最高速度30节、侧舷装甲225毫米的战列巡洋舰方案。