Chapter 459

Although the Navy's warship building plan was not approved, Frederick The Great still praised the strategic plan to provoke a war between England and Russia.

Any country's most feared thing was a bureaucrat's brainless inaction. Only a bureaucrat who was busy was a good bureaucrat.

Although the Navy was a little more worried and did not consider the problem thoroughly, Frederick The Great understood the Navy's approach after considering the actual situation.

Although the Holy Roman Empire's navy had reached the second level in the world, it was still far from being the first.

Originally, the Shinra Navy was expected to catch up with the British, but unfortunately, the French warships were sold to the British by the government, further widening the gap between the two navies.

Of course, there were two sides to every coin. There were pros and cons. The Royal Navy, which acquired the French warships, did not gain any advantage.

The original purpose of buying these warships was to suppress the Shinra Navy and consolidate their dominance on the sea.

However, the situation changed a little bit. The expected arms race did not break out, and the Royal Navy, which had a large number of warships, could only choose to seal some of their warships.

They bought a bunch of big toys home, but in the end, they could only lock them in a drawer. The British also suffered unspeakably.

However, this could not be helped. The British knew that there was a trap, but they could only jump in. Otherwise, if the warships fell into the hands of the Shinra Navy, the Royal Navy's dominant position would be difficult to maintain.

After all, the construction of warships also took time. If the Royal Navy did not have an advantage, it would be a tragedy if one day the Government of Vienna suddenly lost its mind and came to play chess with the Royal Navy.

Shenluo was a country that could afford to lose, but Britain could not afford it. If the Royal Navy really suffered a heavy loss, the international situation would be reshuffled, and it would be difficult for Britannia to restore its dominance on the sea.

After missing an opportunity to quickly catch up, it immediately ushered in the biggest economic crisis in human history. The money was used to improve the economy, and the military expenditure was naturally reduced.

Since the end of the European War, Shinra's military expenditure was stagnant. The total military expenditure did not increase, and the amount of military expenditure allocated to the Navy naturally could not increase.

In order to raise military expenditure after the war, the Army and Air Force began to sell second-hand equipment. After the war, in order to raise military expenditure, the Army and Air Force began to sell second-hand equipment.

The Navy was suffering. Because of the previous sale of warships, the international market was already saturated. There was no room for them to play at all.

In fact, even if there was space, it was useless. The Army and Air Force were selling a lot of equipment that was leftover from the war against France. No matter how much they were selling it, it was still better than dismantling it and selling it as scrap metal.

The navy was different. Not only did they not have a bunch of warships left, but they also had to face competition from the British.

The budget of the Shinra Navy did not increase, but the Navy's budget increased every year. The Navy saw this and was anxious in their hearts.

However, it was useless to just be "anxious". The government's annual budget was only so much. If they took care of one side, they would not be able to take care of the other. The government's budget could only be tilted to the areas that needed it more.

Without a doubt, the Shenluo Navy was clearly not the most urgent to develop. The Royal Navy already had a big advantage, and it did not matter if it was bigger. They did not dare to enter the Mediterranean Sea anyway.

The Royal Navy was too famous. Many people in the Government of Vienna, including Frederick The Great, lacked confidence in the Navy.

On the issue of confronting the British, there had always been another voice in the Government of Vienna, which was: build more airfields in the coastal areas, deploy the Air Force for defense, and vigorously develop submarines as a supplement.

There was no need to sink the enemy's warships. As long as the Air Force could damage the enemy's warships, the Navy could go up and pick up the scraps.

With such a low requirement, the difficulty was naturally not high. The main force of the Royal Navy did not dare to enter the Mediterranean Sea because of this theory.

After all, the Air Force was far more mobile than the Navy. The Government of Vienna also built a large number of airfields in the coastal areas.

If the Government of Vienna wanted to, it could gather hundreds or even thousands of aircraft in any area.

Facing a dense group of aircraft, anyone would feel numb. Although the Royal Navy was powerful, they were still somewhat afraid of the enemy above them.

The Ministry of Air Force even formulated a strategic bombing plan against the British, which was to gather thousands of bombers at once and launch an air attack on the Royal Navy, ending the British's maritime supremacy.

Although it was impossible with the current technology, considering the speed of development of aviation technology, it was not impossible in the next 20 to 30 years.

After all, the English Channel was only a short distance away. As the hegemon of Europe, Shinra could completely deploy fighter jets in France and Belgium. It would not be difficult to launch an air attack.

Although the plan was full of ideals, people had more confidence in the Air Force than in a naval battle with the British.

Under this background, the Shinra Navy naturally did not have an easy time. Not only did they not win the military budget, but even the Air Force came to compete with them for resources. It was normal for the Ministry of Navy to be anxious.

The military budget was limited, and the Ministry of Navy's original plan of "relying on Shinra's industrial advantage to directly crush the British with numbers" was obviously not feasible.

After another attempt by Frederick The Great, Castagni took out a new document and handed it over. "Your Highness, this is the backup plan prepared by the Ministry of Navy.

The Imperial Navy is far from the British Royal Navy. If they want to catch up, they will have to invest a lot of money.

Considering the limited revenue of the Empire, in order to save military expenses, the Ministry of Navy is preparing to promote a technological revolution in the naval industry.

This is a new type of battleship that we have designed using a new design concept, which is different from any previous warship.

We have abandoned the previous concept of using multiple types of artillery and changed to using all heavy artillery. The firepower is three times that of a traditional battleship.

If this attempt is successful, then the traditional battleships of the past will be swept into the garbage heap of history. "

"Experimental ship". This was very important. Although the Government of Vienna did not invest much in the navy, in order to encourage innovation in naval technology, they were very generous with the "experimental ships" that used new technology.

The direct result was that the Shinra Navy would come up with many strange designs every year. However, if they wanted to promote the development of naval technology, these sacrifices were necessary.

Looking at the history of the human navy, one would know that every technological revolution was created by stepping on landmines again and again.

For this reason, Franz specially built an exhibition hall for the strange designs of the navy, which was specifically used to display the various technological innovations on the road of naval development. The successful ones and the unsuccessful ones were all put into the database.

There was no criticism, no criticism, as if everything was natural. After a long time, everyone got used to it. The designers' brains were opened, and the more they played on the road of seeking death, the more excited they became.

Of course, more than 99% of the warship blueprints were left in the archives, and less than 1% could actually be turned into warships.

Being brave didn't mean being brainless. At the very least, it had to conform to the most basic principles of mechanics and ensure that the warship wouldn't sink. Only then could they proceed to the next step of the demonstration.

After the internal screening, the final design plan that was used was actually quite reliable.

Frederick The Great didn't have a deep understanding of naval technology, but he still had the most basic common sense. Looking at the warship blueprints in front of him, Frederick The Great asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you can sweep all the previous battleships into the trash?"

It wasn't that he felt bad about the elimination of warships. In fact, no matter how the warship technology changed, it wouldn't affect the value of the previous warships.

After all, not every country could keep up with the technological revolution of naval technology. Currently, the only countries that could be considered opponents were Shinra and Britannia. The rest were all small fries.

If they wanted to participate in the technological revolution of naval technology, it would have to wait until they grew up. Right now, it wasn't their turn to join in the fun.

If there was a technological revolution of naval technology, just like the birth of the ironclad, it would definitely be good for the Holy Roman Empire.

Today was different from the past. Starting from the same starting line, with their strong industrial strength, Shinra wasn't afraid of competing with the British at all.

Although the old battleships would suffer heavy losses, the British would suffer the most. In terms of financial resources, it was still worth a try for Shinluo to "kill a thousand enemies at a cost of eight hundred."

Minister of the Navy Castagni shook his head, "Your Highness, the birth of new technology is always unavoidable. Before it comes out, no one can guarantee that it will work.

I can only tell you that this new battleship has the potential to do so. With three times the firepower of traditional battleships, in theory, it is indeed possible to kill them. "

If it was just "potential", that was enough. In order to quickly close the gap between them and the British Navy, it was completely acceptable to take out more than four million BD for an experiment.

After some thought, Frederick The Great said slowly, "I will keep this document for the time being. In principle, I don't object.

As for when to start the plan, let's wait for the cabinet to discuss it first! "

More than four million BD was not a small number. It was close to one percent of the revenue of the Government of Vienna. It played an important role in the government's budget.

Frederick The Great felt that it was better for him to be more cautious. No one knew if there would be more important projects in the future. He couldn't mess up the first time he presided over the budget allocation.

Especially after the successful test of the new battleship, it would bring about an unprecedented arms race. He couldn't afford to be careless.

Frederick The Great didn't think that the British couldn't build the warships that Shinra could build. Although Shinra's industrial strength was stronger, in terms of naval technology, Britannia was the king.

Even after the end of the European War, Shinra inherited the naval technology of the French and made up for some of its shortcomings. But that only brought the two sides to the same level. They still couldn't surpass the British.