Chapter 408: Launch Ceremony

Regardless of the cost of the Dreadnought battleship, for the Spanish government and the Navy Department, what they wanted most at this time was to have the Dreadnought battleship completed early, and then discover problems during the long sea trial link, solve them as soon as possible, and let this new Spanish warship serve in the Navy's fleet early.

With the construction of the warship, Spain soon welcomed winter. Winter in Spain was slightly cold, but this could not stop the enthusiasm of the staff of the Royal Guanizo Shipyard to build the battleship.

Because the Dreadnought battleship was about to be completed, a group of high-level Navy officials and many technical experts from the shipyard had gathered together recently, fearing that any problem would occur during the construction of the battleship, causing this battleship, which was pinned with high hopes by Spain, to be aborted.

The good news was that the construction work of the Dreadnought battleship had been quite smooth so far; the overall construction of the warship had been basically completed, and the next step was to install all systems into the warship completely, and after debugging, it could basically be launched for testing.

The installation of a full 10 305mm 45-caliber artillery pieces made the high-level Navy generals red-eyed. Such a warship had already far exceeded all previous battleships in terms of firepower; if the Spanish Navy could have such a warship in service, the naval strength would definitely be able to go to a higher level.

The Dreadnought battleship had not been completed yet, but after discussion, the generals of the Navy Department had unanimously decided to use the Dreadnought battleship as the future flagship of the Spanish fleet.

Dreadnought would also become the spirit of the Spanish Navy; even when facing more powerful enemies, the Navy's soldiers would definitely not have the slightest retreat.

During the construction of the Dreadnought battleship, Gao Da also came to the Royal Guanizo Shipyard many times to watch the construction of the warship he had personally selected.

For the battleship that was gradually taking shape before his eyes, Gao Da was quite satisfied in his heart. As long as the subsequent sea trial link was relatively smooth, this not only represented that Spain had taken the lead in possessing the most powerful warship but also represented that Gao Da had completely changed history, representing that Spain had hope of obtaining more benefits in the upcoming World War I.

Since history regarding the Dreadnought could be changed, would the history of World War I be changed?

Gao Da had no panic at all about history that might be changed, because after long-term development, Spain already possessed the qualifications to wrestle with any super great power.

Even with the development of tanks and airplanes, Spain could not only wrestle with these super great powers but also win on the frontal battlefield and become the new world hegemon in its own way.

"This is really a beautiful big guy." In the dock of the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Navy, Greesen Louis, looked at the gradually taking shape Dreadnought battleship with excitement and said with a smile.

"Although the large number of secondary guns has been canceled, the number of main guns of the Dreadnought battleship has also increased. From the perspective of aesthetics, the appearance of the Dreadnought battleship indeed crushes a group of previous warships, but I don't know if it can meet our indicators." The Deputy Commander of the Navy, although also very fond of the appearance of the Dreadnought battleship, was worried about whether the warship that completely canceled the secondary guns could pass the Navy Department's indicator requirements.

One had to know that the indicator requirements Gao Da issued to the Navy Department were not a joke.

The speed had to reach 21 knots, the firepower had to exceed the previous Monarch-class battleship, and the armor protection capability also had to go a step further. Wanting to make progress in all three aspects was not so easy.

The warship with the largest tonnage that Spain had built before was the flagship of the Monarch-class battleship, the Ferdinand II.

However, the full-load displacement of the Ferdinand II battleship was only 13,000 tons, far less than the Dreadnought battleship's standard displacement of at least 17,800 tons.

The full-load displacement of the Dreadnought battleship was as high as over 20,000 tons; this was not only Spain's first 20,000-ton giant ship but also the world's first battleship with a full-load displacement exceeding 20,000 tons.

Although when calculating the tonnage of warships, standard displacement was generally calculated. But this did not affect the Spanish Navy Department's view of the Dreadnought battleship as a 20,000-ton giant ship in the true sense, and viewing it as the pride and future of the Spanish Navy.

For the Spanish Navy, the Dreadnought-class battleship and the newly developed submarine could already support the main body of the naval framework, and the remaining side branches and details were filled with those small and medium-sized warships with different tonnages.

These warships in the thousand-ton level played more of an auxiliary role, so the Spanish Navy did not have too many requirements for the performance of these small and medium-sized warships, keeping them at the first-class level in Europe.

As the main body of the Navy, battleships and submarines, the Navy hoped to keep them at the top level of European navies. Only in this way could the Spanish Navy erupt with sufficiently powerful combat effectiveness and go to compete with those old naval powers.

As the cold winter passed, March 11, 1902, Spain welcomed an extremely important day, which was that the Dreadnought battleship had been officially completed, and the Navy secretly prepared a launch ceremony for it that was not grand but had a very luxurious lineup.

Those who participated in the launch ceremony of the Dreadnought battleship were either the top level of the Spanish military or the top level of the Spanish government, and they had to be high-ranking officials above the cabinet minister level to be allowed to participate.

As for those officials and generals whose rank was not enough, they not only did not have the qualifications to participate in this launch ceremony but also did not have the qualifications to know the specific news about the Dreadnought battleship.

March 11, 1902, with a luxurious car motorcade arriving at the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, the launch ceremony of the Dreadnought battleship was also announced to officially begin.

Gao Da came to the shipyard with Prime Minister Angelo Olcah, accompanied by the current Minister of National Defense, General Qiao Di of the Spanish Royal Army.

Spain's military rank level was universal, but according to the different troops served, it could generally be divided into three types of warships.

Army rank, Navy rank, and Royal Army rank.

Although the levels of these ranks were the same, Army generals definitely could not manage the Navy, and Navy generals definitely could not manage the Army.

The Royal Army rank was independent of the Army and Navy and could be counted as Spain's highest military rank. Simply put, those who were granted the Royal Army rank enjoyed the same level of rank treatment in both the Army and the Navy.

The most obvious example was the current Minister of National Defense, Qiao Di; his general rank was the Royal Army rank, which could also be understood as Army and Navy General, rather than purely Army General or Navy General.

Generally speaking, only officers in special positions would be granted the Royal Army rank. Even the officers of Gao Da's private army, the Imperial Guard, were only ordinary Army ranks; after all, they had no connection with the Navy.

Currently, those who possessed the Royal Army rank were only high-ranking officials of the Ministry of National Defense, such as the Minister of the Ministry of National Defense, the Chief of the General Staff of the General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense, etc.

In addition to the General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense, the Army Department and the Navy Department under the Ministry of National Defense also had their own general staffs. It was just that the chiefs of staff of these general staffs, their ranks were the ranks of their respective military branches, not the special Royal Army rank.

As for the Grand Marshal rank possessed by Gao Da, strictly speaking, it also belonged to the Royal Army rank.

Regardless of how many military branches Spain possessed, Gao Da was the nominal supreme commander of all Spanish troops, and the Marshal rank naturally also included all Army and Navy troops, and would also include Air Force troops in the future.

Since Prime Minister Primo and Prime Minister Serrano, Spain had never had a Marshal rank. This was not because Gao Da did not grant it, but because the generals under his command did not have enough merit to become Marshals.

Whether it was Army Marshal, Navy Marshal, or Royal Army Marshal, they all needed enough merit to pave the way.

Once becoming a Marshal, it also represented that this officer would become the best of all Spanish officers. If there was no enough merit to pave the way for prestige, a large number of officers would express dissatisfaction with the new Marshal. ===== CHAPTER 409 =====