Zhang Yunfei ordered heavy cruisers to the United States, announcing the official start of the competition between Zhang Yunfei and Russia.

At this time, in order to avenge the destruction of the Far East Fleet outside Lushun Port, Russian Emperor Nicholas II ordered the Minister of Finance to increase the military budget to make large-scale modifications. The original plan for the Navy was to form the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet, but the accident of the Lushun incident caused Russia to lose the Far East Fleet.

In order to make up for this huge gap, Nicholas II and Admiral Teldov studied it and believed that Zhang Yunfei's main battleship originally had four battleships, four heavy cruisers, and after seizing three Russian battleships and a large armored cruiser, their strength had increased dramatically.

Russia's current Baltic Fleet and Black Sea Fleet have a total of twelve new and old battleships and four armored cruisers. If you don't defend against Europe, you can fight Zhang Yunfei. But Nicholas II is obviously not so crazy that he doesn't want Europe anymore.

To this end, Nicholas II and Admiral Tel's Minister of Admiral Tel's final research result was to continue building ships on a large scale, striving to defeat Zhang Yunfei with an absolute advantage within five years and avenge a revenge.

Since Russia is under the technological monopoly of Britain in the construction of modern battleships and Russia is full of enemies in Europe, Russia can only learn from France, while learning the construction methods of new battleships, while improving its own battleship construction. Russia has currently built only the last battleship of Petropavlovsk-class battleships, the Rostislav. This class of ships has built four ships, and the other three have just been sent to the Far East Fleet, and were defeated and captured by the Pacific Fleet of the Zhang Yun Enclave during the trial voyage. In other words, the ground battleships have been given to Zhang Yunfei after working hard. Think about how big the fire of Nicholas II is!

Time is tight, and the Russian Navy cannot wait until the French and American battleships are completed before starting construction. In order to offset the navy's pressure in the Far East as soon as possible, the Russian Navy had no choice but to launch Petropavlovsk-class battleships from the new horse, but it was necessary to make some technical improvements. From the first batch of Russian sailors released back, it was learned that the Pacific Fleet was obviously dominant in terms of degree and firepower. In order to this end, the Russian Navy not only improved the artillery system, but also purchased a new type of reciprocating steam engine from France to replace the original Russian steam engine.

There are not many docks in Russia that can build large battleships, only five. For this reason, the Russian Navy has rebuilt three improved models of Petropavlovsk-class battleships, and the remaining two docks are used to start construction of the Peresvet-class battleships. However, one of the docks will not start construction until the completion of the Rostislav in January next year.

The Russians knew their shortcomings in the manufacturing technology of new battleships, so they also spent a lot of money to order two latest battleships with their own styles, just like Japan ordering armored cruisers from Europe to learn from each other's strengths. At the same time, the Russians also wisely considered the issue of ammunition and components, and clearly required the order to be unified with the Royal Russian Navy standards.

The orders to the United States of America cost nearly $6 million, which hurts a bit for Russia, which tightens its belt and is a bit of a warrior. The warships they have made are indeed not disappointing. This latest battleship, named "Letvizan", fully reflects the characteristics of the "American-style battleship". It has strong firepower, but thin skin, beautiful appearance, and moderate degree.

Russia and France have been closely cooperative allies since the 2008 French-Russian Alliance Treaty. In that particular era, France was regarded by Russia as the best teacher to provide shipbuilding technology. The "Prince" played a prototype role in the subsequent Russian warships - the Russian self-built battleships fully borrowed from the "Prince". Interestingly, the Russians later named the battleships they built as the Borodino class. This is a Russian land, where Russia had fought fierce battles with the French land Napoleon.

The battleships ordered in France were to lay the keel at the Toulon Shipyard, the best shipyard in France at that time. The keel of a huge ship was installed and erected. The new pride of the Royal Russian Navy, the Prince, officially began construction. This huge battleship (formerly the dreadnought) was built according to the latest ship standards at that time. The design standard displacement reached 20 coal-fired boilers, with a maximum power of about 18 knots, and were equipped with four double-mounted naval guns that were shocking. However, there was a problem with French battleships, that is, the center of gravity was too high, and a sharp turn would capsize.

While Russia was working hard to build battleships, it also noticed that Zhang Yunfei had also customized a new type of heavy cruiser in the United States. The heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of up to 1 suddenly scared the Russian naval masters. The tonnage had exceeded the Russian battleship, which would be a huge disaster. Fortunately, the Russians were not scared. The Rurik armored cruiser built by the Russian Navy before was 1, and the strong-class large protective cruiser built by the United Kingdom surprised the Russian Navy, and was also immune to Zhang Yunfei's construction of such a large tonnage heavy cruiser.

However, immunity does not mean that it is not taken seriously. According to Zhang Yunfei's usual targeted construction, the Feilian-class heavy cruiser built by the United States (called the North Wind God Class in the West) is an upgraded version of the Pennsylvania-class under construction by the United States. It should be aimed at the Russian Rurik-class armored cruiser and the British strong-class protective cruiser.

At this time, Russia no longer had large docks to build such large cruisers, so Russia chose its ally France to build them. On the one hand, France's armored cruisers were better than those of the United States, and on the other hand, France had built heavy cruisers for Zhang Yunfei, which happened to understand the combat power of Zhang Yunfei's heavy cruiser fleet.

The Bayan i-ship Bayang large armored cruiser, designed displacement main gun caliber, completely suppressed the Seahawk-class heavy cruiser built by Zhang Yunfei. While France began to formulate and implement a war plan against Zhang Yunfei in Russia, it was far away from the Qing Dynasty, and Zhang Yunfei's desk was also filled with various types.

Of course, it is basically Russian intelligence, and there is no reason why Zhang Yunfei has not responded to such a big move by the Russians.

"What do you think?" Zhang Yunfei asked with his head raised.

The people present were all senior generals of the Navy. Everyone glanced at each other and finally their eyes fell on Lin Jianzhang. Lieutenant General Lin Jianzhang, as the Minister of the Navy, naturally made a statement.

"Yuan, I think that according to our current naval strength, we are fully capable of independently competing with the Russian navy. Although the report said that Russia still has more than a dozen battleships and a large number of second-class battleships. The Russian navy seems very powerful, but it may not have the courage to go to war with us! Because our battle in the Yellow Sea has cast a shadow on the Russian navy, and we can continue to build ships. Russia mobilized the navy from Europe to the Qing Dynasty, and there is less than a year or two, and I don't think they can't get through."

Someone took the lead, and the conversation naturally opened. Deputy Minister Major General Du Xigui said: "I think Minister Lin's words make sense. The Russian Navy has no momentum and is far away from the second-hand unit. Once the war begins, we have a vast strategic space in the North Pacific region that can attack the Russian Navy at any time."

Chief of Staff Xu interrupted: "Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Since we know that Russia's naval strength is still far from us, we naturally cannot underestimate them. A victory or defeat is not enough to judge the winner or lose. After all, the Russian navy is a naval power that has been rampant for half a century. It is better than us in terms of experience and tactics. If Russia conquers the country to fight, how can we deal with it? Therefore, we still think we should deal with it carefully, or build more warships and expand the navy."

After listening to the opinions of several people, Zhang Yunfei felt a little relieved, so he said, "Everyone's suggestions are good. I returned Vladivostok to the Russians before. To a large extent, I was afraid that Russia would do everything to the whole country to start a war with us. Although we are not afraid that they will do this, it will seriously affect our established plan."

Lieutenant General Lin Jianzhang asked: "How do you plan to deal with Russia's aggressive naval plan?"

Zhang Yunfei picked up several telegrams from the Honolulu Naval Construction Agency and the Naval Ordnance Department and handed them to several people. After the few people read it, Zhang Yunfei replied: "Everyone has seen it. The Naval Construction Agency and the Ordnance Department now have complaints about the battleships under construction in Pearl Harbor, and some disagreements. Let me decide now. Will these two battleships still need to be built?"

Lieutenant General Lin Jianzhang said: "From the design of these two battleships, they are definitely first-class. The 17,000-ton giant ship has a much stronger firepower than the current main ships of various countries, and the level is even more than this. For battleships, it is definitely a peak work! However, the cost is too high. Now it has been spent on two million pounds. By the time of completion, it will probably get three million brisks. No wonder the Construction and Ordnance Department will be soaring?"

Judging from various data, the battleship designed by Navy Chief Engineer Anderson is definitely the pinnacle of the former dreadnought and can be called a quasi-dreadnought. Once built, it will greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the Pacific Fleet.

But the problem is also here. Honolulu's current industrial capacity cannot support the navy's shipbuilding industry. Important shipbuilding materials such as turrets and steam engines at Pearl Harbor Shipyard have to be imported. To put it bluntly, the current Pearl Harbor Shipyard is actually a giant copycat base, and everything is done by assembly.

But even so, the construction cost of the battleships was still increased to a terrifying position of more than 2 million pounds. After completion, it would require at least 3 million pounds, which is enough for Zhang Yunfei to buy two current battleships.

Chief of Staff Xu said: "Although the cost of building a ship is too high, we must also see its good side. If we want to be truly powerful, we must have our own shipbuilding industry. If we can build a battleship that will make the great powers look at, it will not only boost morale, but also lay the foundation for us to be uncontrolled by the great powers in the future! So I think that without affecting our finances, we will support our shipbuilding industry!"

Zhang Yunfei is a little difficult to make a choice. After all, no one is willing to do this project that is wasteful of money and time!

"What do you mean?" Zhang Yunfei asked.

Several people looked at each other and nodded at the same time: "Continue to support the shipyard and complete this class of ships!"

Seeing that several people agreed to continue building, Zhang Yunfei had no intention of refuting, so he said, "Okay! Then let's build it and see what this battleship we made ourselves would look like! However, our chief engineer Mr. Anderson seems to be not satisfied with the existing battleship plan, and he still has the time to design a heavy cruiser out, you can take a look!"

As he said that, Zhang Yunfei took out another telegram and handed it to several people to pass it on.

This heavy cruiser was designed by Anderson based on the blueprint of the Pacific Fleet's Lushun heavy cruiser and the Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser in the United States. Its design displacement is 22 knots, and its firepower is even more powerful. It adopts the latest design idea in Italy, the triple artillery group design. Because the triple artillery was too scattered when firing, the bounce point of the triple artillery was finally delayed by the Ordnance Office engineer Mr. Gibbie Bipelino, an Italian, who delayed the intermediate artillery in seconds, making the triple artillery a practical weapon system.

The design of three triple artillery groups makes the heavy cruiser the closest design to the battle cruiser. The unified main gun caliber and degree are simply the natural enemy of any armored cruiser and the ultimate in the era of armored cruisers.

However, the problem is also here. In order to keep it confidential, the production of triple artillery must be completely built by Honolulu itself. The cost is quite high, with equipment costs of up to 650,000 pounds, which makes it possible to buy two large armored cruisers for the construction cost of heavy cruisers.

And the most troublesome thing is that Anderson seems to be interested in the dominant position of the triple-mounted artillery and asked Zhang Yunfei to build the main turret of the triple-mounted battleship for the Navy. This is a fatal blow. Both units need to be imported, let alone such a large triple-mounted unit?

They still solicited opinions from the Navy Department, but obviously Lin Jianzhang and others were very happy and immediately asked Zhang Yunfei to agree to the approval. Afterwards, Zhang Yunfei realized that the Navy Department would certainly support the construction of more warships, and the more they would be better! However, at that time, Zhang Yunfei still gritted his teeth and agreed.

After the self-built warship was decided, it was naturally much easier. The topic then turned back to countermeasures against Russia's large naval plan.

In fact, there is only one problem, which is how to engage in an arms race with Russia.
Chapter completed!