Chapter 562: There’s a Trouble in the Brain
The Russian Empire is magical, and some things cannot be explained at all.
George must be calm enough. Initially he made up his mind to only provoke an arms race and would never fall into it. But now the Russian Empire already has 11 heavy artillery battleships under construction. Second only to the UK and Germany.
At this point, Churchill and Xiafei are not satisfied yet. They hope that the Russian Empire will continue to increase its efforts and will not give up until the Russian Empire is trapped to death.
George has nothing to say. The "Gangut" class battleship has been commissioned and the "Queen Maria" class battleship is under construction. George ordered the transfer of the "Russia" battleship to the Mediterranean Fleet a few days ago. Continue Strengthen the Mediterranean Fleet.
After the "Russia" arrives in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Fleet will have three all-heavy artillery battleships, surpassing the British Mediterranean Fleet and becoming the most powerful fleet in the region.
The Siberian Fleet, which has been upgraded to the Pacific Fleet, did not gain nothing. George transferred the two battleships that Japan compensated to the Russian Empire to the Far East to enrich the strength of the Pacific Fleet.
In this way, the main ships of the Baltic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet will all be full-heavy artillery battleships. Although the absolute number is not large enough, the combat effectiveness can be fully guaranteed.
George still laid an ambush against Churchill and Joffre. Although the "Queen Maria" class is nominally the same as the "Gangut", they are both battleships. In fact, it refers to British standards and reduces the armor. The Queen Maria class was supposed to be a battle cruiser.
The main guns of the "Queen Maria" are the same as those of the "Gangut", both of which are 12 52 caliber 330 guns.
Due to the reduction in armor, the displacement of the "Queen Maria" dropped to 21,000 tons, and the maximum speed was increased to 26 knots. In the 10-knot economic speed mode, the endurance of the "Queen Maria" is 7,500 nautical miles.
Churchill believed that the Russian Empire needed at least two classes of eight dreadnoughts to put enough pressure on Germany and force it to withdraw from the arms race.
George did not object directly, but the Russian Empire had its own national conditions. It was easy to build ships. The Russian Empire had plenty of slipways. Where did the money come from?
George did not hide it, and said directly and openly that the Russian Empire was concentrating on strengthening its army and had no spare time to build new ships.
Churchill didn't care, but Xiafei felt cold from his chest to his back.
The Russian Empire's army is already strong enough. It continuously defeated Japan and the Ottoman Empire, which fully proved the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army.
Russia continues to strengthen its army, purchase more armored fighting vehicles and bombers, and form armored forces and an air force.
The stronger the Russian Empire becomes, the more the Allies become wary, and the more dangerous France becomes.
The money for the Russian Empire to build the "Queen Maria" class was borrowed from Britain and France.
Xia Fei is not willing to be taken advantage of anymore.
Churchill was even more unjust.
France only contributed half of the money to build "Queen Maria", and the other half came from Britain.
The money for "Gangut" comes from the UK.
Although the money is borrowed, it will have to be paid back sooner or later.
But taking the funds originally belonging to the Royal Navy to strengthen the strength of the Russian Navy, Churchill felt that he was a big grievance.
"You invest up to 500 million rubles in education every year. Why don't you have money to build warships?"
Churchill was aggressive and questioned the sincerity of the Russian Empire.
The Russian Empire does not have money, it just has no money to build warships.
Russia not only invests 500 million rubles in education every year, but also moves 500,000 people to Siberia every year. Farmers in remote areas of Russia have begun to consume luxuries such as champagne, and workers in the United Kingdom and France It's still dark in the sweatshop.
An embarrassing reality is that the labor movements in Britain and France are no less than those in the Russian Empire. In terms of strikes alone, they are even more frequent, broader in scope, and larger in scale.
France's response to the workers' movement was to sacrifice officials, with prime ministers and ministers as sacrificial victims.
Britain was brutally repressive, and Churchill himself was a master at suppressing the labor movement.
Relatively speaking, the Russian Empire is the European country that treats the people at the bottom the best.
So the workers in St. Petersburg should really be dragged to factories in Paris and London to let them feel what the real iron fist of capitalism is.
“Because Russian children also want to receive a Harrow School-style education.”
George almost pissed Churchill to death.
Harrow School was Churchill’s alma mater.
Churchill was a standard problem student when he was a child. He attended St. George's boarding school for aristocratic children, Thomson School, and Harrow Public School. After graduation, he wanted to go to Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, but he failed to pass the exam three times. , opened the back door and went in.
Churchill was born into the Duke of Marlborough family. His father was the founder of the British Conservative Party "Primrose Club" and once served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother was the son of Leonard Jerome, a shareholder of the New York Times. The daughter, a millionaire, once fell in love with Edward VII.
Harrow School, where Churchill once studied, was founded in 1572. It is one of the most famous middle schools in the UK, and the students it recruits are either rich or noble.
In the Russian Empire, if Harrow School is the standard, then 500 million rubles per year is indeed not enough.
"Honorable Grand Duke Yuriev, your attitude is irresponsible."
Although Churchill was born into a top nobleman, he was actually a piece of meat and had no gentlemanly manners. .
"I am Grand Duke Yuriev of the Russian Empire, and I have no responsibility for Britain." George's nickname of "Barbarian" was given by the British.
I'm a fucking barbarian, it's normal to be irresponsible.
Churchill couldn't get what he wanted from George, so he turned to find Nicholas.
Nicholas showed the strong respect he deserved for his "Uncle God of War" and would never interfere in the construction of the Russian Navy.
While the two admirals were arguing in St. Petersburg, the Kingdom of Greece was changing.
On March 15, the new deputy commander of the Russian Mediterranean Fleet, Georgi, led a fleet headed by the flagship "Russia" to visit Thessaloniki.
When the construction of the "Russia" started, there were various rumors from the outside world. Some said that the "Russia" used 20 350mm main guns, others said that the top speed of the "Russia" was as high as 30 knots, and some even said that the command tower of the "Russia" was armored. At 500 mm thick, it is the strongest in the world.
Compared with the rumors, the completed "Russia" was a big disappointment. Not only were the 12 main guns not 350, but the same 330 as the "Yuryev", they were also 45 times the caliber.
The maximum speed is only 24 knots, and the armor of the command tower is only 300 mm, which is almost the same as the "Queen Elizabeth" class battleship that the UK just started construction at the end of last year.
Wait a minute -
Construction of the "Queen Elizabeth" class has just begun.
"Russia" is already in service.
According to British standards, a gun with a main gun caliber exceeding 305mm is a super-dreadnought.
So the all-heavy artillery battleships of the Russian Empire, including the earliest built "Yuryev" and "Romanov", should all be super fearless.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Greek Navy was ambitious and tried to build its own dreadnoughts.
The Greek Navy is not strong enough and does not have the ability to build dreadnoughts, so the Greek Navy contacted the United Kingdom and hoped to purchase dreadnoughts.
Unfortunately, the British offer was too high and the Greek Navy could not afford it, so the plan was shelved.
"Yuryev" and "Romanov" have only 8 main guns.
The "Russia" adopts a piggy-back triple configuration, with a total of 12 doors 330, so when the "Russia" sailed into Thessaloniki, the dock was crowded with people welcoming the "Russia" and the People of Orki.
Although Georgi is the deputy commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he is a Greek prince.
The Greeks are actually not that sensitive about serving in foreign armies. The eldest son of Constantine I, George, the current Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Greece, once served in the Prussian army.
Officially for this reason, when Constantine I was deposed in another time and space, the Allies did not agree to George's succession, but Alexander, Constantine's second son, succeeded him.
Alexander also had a bad life. In 1920, while walking his dog in the garden, the dog was attacked by a monkey. In order to protect his dog, Alexander was bitten by the monkey while driving away the monkey, which later caused sepsis and died. die.
After Georgi arrived in Thessaloniki, the first thing he did was to pay homage to the place where George I was assassinated. He also expressed that he would use private funds to build a church at the place where George I was assassinated. George I, and prayers for the fate of the Kingdom of Greece.
This decision immediately won the favor of the Greeks. At the same time as this news spread throughout the country, there was news that German instructors were about to arrive in Greece.
On the night Georgi arrived in Thessaloniki, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos held a welcome banquet for Georgi at the palace of the former Ottoman Sultan.
Venizelos was deeply concerned about Constantine's invitation to German instructors.
“Facts have proved that my father’s decision is right. The Kingdom of Greece should not lean towards any party and maintain a neutral position, which is more conducive to the interests of Greece.”
Georgi’s thoughts , coincides with Venizelos.
“Because Valdemar was close to the German-Austrian alliance, the Kingdom of Bulgaria was besieged during the Balkan War, and Germany did not provide support to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.”
Georgi was wrong, It's not that William II didn't want to support, but the war ended before the Kingdom of Bulgaria could wait for German assistance.
"Inviting German instructors will drag Greece into the abyss of war. Every rational Greek has the obligation to prevent His Majesty's wrong decision."
Venizelos does not take a stand among the Allies and the Central Powers. The decision was made entirely in the interests of Greece.
What if the Kingdom of Greece was not surrounded by the Allies, but was under the protection of the Central Powers.
Then Venizelos would choose the Allies without hesitation.
In this situation, Venizelos can only think that Constantine has a flaw in his mind.
"The arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany has entered a fever pitch, and we don't have much time left."
Deep in his heart, Georgi is still a staunch Greek.
(End of this chapter)