Chapter 351: Naval Arms Race

After the design of the Monarch-class battleship received the approval of the Naval Department, construction work commenced immediately.

The first to begin construction was the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard, which was responsible for building the *Ferdinand II*, the future flagship of the Spanish Royal Navy.

The construction cycle for the *Ferdinand II* battleship would last a year and a half. Construction was set to begin in September 1890, with the expected launch date in March 1892.

Coupled with the long sea trial phase, the earliest this brand-new battleship could enter naval service would be three years later, in 1893.

The construction of the second Monarch-class battleship, the *Isabella I*, would start slightly later, as the scale of the Valencia United Shipyard was still not comparable to the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard.

The *Isabella I* was scheduled to begin construction in November 1890, with the goal of completing it by mid-1892. If the construction process went smoothly, both of these brand-new battleships had the potential to enter naval service before 1894.

The remaining two shipyards, the El Ferrol Royal Naval Shipyard and the Cartagena Shipyard, also had their own tasks.

In fact, after the design for the ten-thousand-ton capital ships was finalized, the design for 7,000-ton cruisers could be modeled after them; by sacrificing a portion of their performance, a new cruiser design could be derived.

It is necessary to mention Spain's requirement for 7,000-ton cruisers: they were to serve as secondary capital ships, meaning these 7,000-ton warships were also expected to participate in frontline combat and play a role in naval battles.

After several days of discussion by the Warship Design Committee, the general design plan for the 7,000-ton cruisers was quickly determined.

Because the displacement was only 7,000 tons, it was impossible for this class of cruiser to be well-rounded in terms of firepower, armor protection, and speed like a battleship.

Since they were to participate in decisive capital ship battles, firepower was more important than armor protection and speed, and speed was more important than armor protection.

The logic was simple: only with sufficient firepower could they inflict damage on the enemy's capital ships. Only with sufficient speed could they keep up with the enemy's main force; otherwise, they would become sitting ducks that couldn't run.

As for armor protection, while it might be very important for a battleship, it was not as critical for a cruiser.

The cruiser's displacement was only 7,000 tons, and considering the speed requirements, even if firepower were sacrificed, it would be impossible to achieve battleship-level armor protection.

Rather than that, it was better to completely abandon armor protection and elevate firepower and speed to battleship levels.

Even if such a poorly protected cruiser sank after taking a few shells, as long as it could hit the enemy's capital ships a few times before sinking into the ocean, it would be a net gain for the Spanish Navy.

To ensure that the 7,000-ton cruisers could inflict damage on enemy capital ships, the first thing determined was the cruiser's main gun caliber.

The 305mm naval gun caliber, while inferior to the 343mm caliber of the Monarch-class battleships, was definitely a capital-ship-level gun with immense destructive power.

In terms of propulsion, the cruisers copied the power plant of the Monarch-class battleships, also adopting two three-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines.

However, the power was scaled down; the power under normal ventilation was only about 7,500 horsepower, and it could only reach the power level of the Monarch-class battleship's standard output under full power.

But considering that this cruiser had a displacement of only about 7,000 tons, this power was already quite sufficient.

It was estimated that this cruiser design could reach a maximum speed of over 18 knots, and with the steam plant running at full power, the speed could reach about 17 knots.

Fast speed and strong firepower—these were all the advantages of the cruiser. As for armor protection, this cruiser design had only disadvantages.

The thickness of the main armor belt of this cruiser couldn't even compare to Spain's two ironclads; its armor protection could simply be described as fragile.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as it was hit by a single shell from an enemy capital ship, this cruiser would be at risk of sinking.

But high risk brings high reward; this 7,000-ton cruiser also had the capability to sink the enemy's capital ships.

Considering the constantly increasing cost of capital ships, as long as this type of cruiser could achieve a ratio of two-for-one, it would be a guaranteed profit for Spain.

Because this type of cruiser was destined to adopt a "life-for-life" tactic, this brand-new 7,000-ton class cruiser was named the Warrior-class.

The El Ferrol Royal Naval Shipyard and the Cartagena Shipyard would be fully responsible for the construction of 10 Warrior-class cruisers, with the task of launching two cruisers per year over the next 5 years.

After all, they were only 7,000-ton warships, so the construction time was not as long as that of battleships. Battleship construction time usually exceeded one year, generally between one and a half to two and a half years.

The construction time for a 7,000-ton cruiser could be compressed to one year, which meant that the El Ferrol Royal Naval Shipyard and the Cartagena Shipyard only needed to build one cruiser each per year to meet the requirements of the 5-year shipbuilding plan issued by the Navy.

September 1890 was an extremely lively month for Spain.

At the beginning of September, the *Ferdinand II* battleship officially announced the start of construction. As the King of Spain, Gao Da personally attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the *Ferdinand II* and expressed his new expectations for the Spanish Navy.

At this time, due to the influence of the publication of *The Influence of Sea Power upon History*, European countries, both the public and the government, attached great importance to naval power.

Spain's high-profile construction of battleships was a huge boost of confidence for the Spanish public.

A few days after the groundbreaking ceremony for the *Ferdinand II*, the groundbreaking ceremonies for the *Warrior* cruiser and the *Hero* cruiser followed.

The groundbreaking ceremonies for these two smaller cruisers did not attract as much attention, but they still sparked heated discussions among many Spanish citizens.

For the Spanish public, 1890 might have been the happiest year. This year, one battleship and two cruisers were announced to begin construction; the combined displacement of these three warships was nearly 30,000 tons, which was something the original Spanish public could never have imagined.

During the previous ironclad era, a navy scale of 30,000 tons was equivalent to at least three ironclads, and it would have taken Spain at least 5 years to build three ironclads.

But now, Spain had completed a 30,000-ton naval construction task in just one year. Did this mean that Spain's naval power would continue to increase in the coming years?

Like the Spanish public, many European countries expressed concern about Spain's high-profile naval construction.

The British, in particular, were eager to find out news about the battleships Spain was building every day. Although Britain had long discussed the concept of battleship construction, their first battleship, the *Royal Sovereign*, had already begun construction at the end of September last year and was expected to be launched early next year to begin sea trials.

But clearly, Britain would not be satisfied just because they started building battleships earlier than Spain. Britain wanted to maintain its status as the naval hegemon and would not allow any country to challenge its naval power. Because Spain kept the battleships under construction highly confidential, the British side did not find out detailed information about the battleships Spain was building.

To be on the safe side, Britain accelerated the speed of its own battleship construction and once again increased naval military spending.

Britain's act of increasing naval spending triggered a small round of naval arms races in Europe.

At this time, it was not just the British who attached great importance to the navy; almost all major European powers were accelerating their naval construction.

As early as the second half of 1889, the Triple Alliance, led by Germany, Austria, and Italy, held a secret meeting to discuss naval development and future plans.

After Alfred Thayer Mahan's book *The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660-1783* was published, the Triple Alliance reacted decisively by convening another meeting and reaching a unified opinion: to continue accelerating naval construction.

At this time, the King of Italy was still Gao Da's brother, Umberto I. He was a nationalist and imperialist who attached great importance to Italy's military power.

Under his leadership, Italy's army scale had almost doubled. During the reign of Gao Da's father, Victor Emmanuel II, the Italian Kingdom's standing army was only a little over 200,000.

When Umberto I became the King of Italy, the scale of the Italian army expanded rapidly in a short period, currently reaching an exaggerated level of nearly 400,000.

One must know that the standing army of Germany and France before the war was only 400,000, and Germany and France's population, industry, and economy were far ahead of Italy's.

Maintaining an army of over 400,000 was a huge challenge for Italy's finances. However, during Umberto I's reign, Italy also acquired two small colonies in Tunisia, which could be considered as making Italy's military expansion not in vain.

After Sea Power Theory was valued by European countries, Umberto I immediately turned his attention to naval development.

As early as before, he had made the Italian Navy one of the top five in the world. The total displacement of the Italian Navy reached 242,000 tons, and the naval scale even exceeded that of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Spain.

Of course, this 242,000-ton naval displacement had some "water" in it. The reason Spain's naval displacement lagged behind Italy's was mainly because the sailing warships from decades ago had been almost completely phased out, and the capital ships remaining were only the ironclads built in recent years.

Italy, on the one hand, was building ironclads on a large scale, while on the other hand, it was retaining the previous sailing warships. The total displacement of all warships reached 242,000 tons, but in terms of the number of ironclads, it lagged behind Spain.

Currently, the world naval ranking is: Britain first, France second, Russia third, Spain fourth, Italy fifth, Germany sixth, and Austria-Hungary eighth.

From this, one can see the reason why the Triple Alliance was vigorously developing its navy; their naval strength was far behind that of the Franco-Russian Alliance.

If they did not develop their navy, the joint Franco-Russian fleet would dominate the Mediterranean, thereby affecting the stability of the coasts of Italy and Austria-Hungary.

Although Germany's coastline would not be harassed by the French fleet, if Italy and Austria-Hungary fell into chaos due to the loss of their coasts, Germany alone would not be able to hold on for long.

While Britain and Spain were building their navies on a large scale, Italy also announced its own naval construction plan.

Although Italy's army combat effectiveness was not great, Italy's navy was still worth mentioning. More importantly, Italy's level in the shipbuilding industry was quite excellent, which was the reason why the Italian Navy could rank among the top five in the world.

At this time, the era of ironclads transitioning to pre-dreadnoughts had arrived, and even if the term "battleship" had not yet become popular in various countries, the concept of this type of warship was no secret.

In the research and development of capital ships, all countries wanted to design a more powerful warship. In this regard, the British were doing the best; they would not only lead the era of battleships but also lead the era of dreadnoughts after battleships.

For Italy, which had a fairly good shipbuilding industry scale, they also had their own battleship ambitions.

Upon learning that Spain's battleships were obtained by Gao Da through a public tender at a great cost, Gao Da's brother, Umberto I, also conducted a public tender within Italy and declared that whoever could design a work that satisfied the Italian Navy would receive a large sum of funding rewards and other various subsidy policies.

Such a public tender received high attention from Italian shipyards and sparked competition among major shipyards.

In October 1890, Italy also announced that it would build at least 5 battleships in the next 5 years and invest 200 million lire in naval funding.

The Italian lira and the Spanish peseta were of equal value, which also meant that the naval construction funds invested by the Italian government were not much different from Spain's.

Italy alone was like this, not to mention Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Regarding naval construction, the German government attached great importance to it.

At this time, Germany had reached the era of Wilhelm II, and Germany's foreign policy was no longer the isolation of France and the management of Europe of the Bismarck era.

As early as a few years ago, Germany had been constantly expanding its colonies. After Wilhelm II became the German Emperor, Germany's emphasis on colonies had been constantly increasing, and the navy had also become an important force in Germany's military construction.

As early as October 1889, the German government announced that it would invest at least 150 million marks in the next 5 years to develop the German Empire's own powerful navy.

In March 1890, the German government announced an additional 50 million marks, bringing the naval development funding to 200 million marks in one fell swoop.

The mark was more valuable than the peseta. 200 million marks was equivalent to 250 million pesetas, which also meant that Germany's investment in the navy was not much different from Spain's.

As for the remaining Austria-Hungary of the Triple Alliance, their investment in the navy was less.

This was not because Austria-Hungary did not attach importance to the navy, but because Austria-Hungary's finances were limited, and it was impossible to continue to develop a large-scale navy while maintaining a large-scale army.

Moreover, Austria-Hungary's coastline was relatively short, and all the coastlines were concentrated in the Adriatic Sea bay. The Adriatic Sea is a bay inside the Mediterranean, between the Balkan Peninsula and the Apennine Peninsula, and the narrowest point is only a little over 70 kilometers away.

This also meant that once Austria-Hungary went to war with France, their fleet would likely be directly blockaded in the Adriatic Sea, unable to enter the Mediterranean at all, let alone go to the ocean to fight.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 352 =====