Chapter 408: Launching Ceremony

Regardless of the cost of the Dreadnought-class battleship, for the Spanish government and the naval department, what they wanted most at this time was to have the Dreadnought completed as soon as possible, then discover problems during the long sea trial phase, and after resolving them early, have this new type of Spanish warship enter service in the naval fleet sooner.

With the construction of the warship, Spain also quickly welcomed winter. Winter in Spain was still slightly cold, but this could not stop the enthusiasm of the staff at the Royal Guanizo Shipyard for building the battleship.

Because the Dreadnought was nearing completion, high-level naval officials and many technical experts from the shipyard had recently gathered together, fearing that any minor problem might occur during the construction process, causing this battleship, upon which Spain had pinned high hopes, to be aborted.

The good news was that the construction of the Dreadnought had been quite smooth so far; the overall construction of the warship was basically complete, and the next step was to fully install the various systems into the ship, after which it could basically be launched for testing once debugging was finished.

The installation of a full ten 305mm 45-caliber guns made the high-ranking naval generals green with envy. Such a warship already far exceeded all previous battleships in terms of firepower; if the Spanish Navy could have such a warship in service, its naval strength would definitely be taken to a higher level.

Before the Dreadnought was even completed, the generals of the Naval Department, after discussions, had unanimously decided to treat the Dreadnought 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 naval soldiers would absolutely never show the slightest retreat.

During the construction process of the Dreadnought, Carlo had also visited the Royal Guanizo Shipyard many times to watch the construction of the warship he had personally selected.

Carlo was quite satisfied with the battleship taking shape before his eyes. As long as the subsequent sea trial phase went relatively smoothly, this would not only mean that Spain had taken the lead in possessing the most powerful warship, but it also meant that Carlo had completely changed history, and that Spain had hope of gaining more benefits in the upcoming First World War.

Since the history regarding Dreadnoughts could be changed, would the history of the First World War also be changed?

Carlo felt no panic at all about the history that might be changed, because after long-term development, Spain already possessed the qualifications to go toe-to-toe with any superpower.

Even with the development of tanks and aircraft, Spain could not only go toe-to-toe with these superpowers, but could also defeat them on the front lines, becoming the new world hegemon in its own way.

"This is truly a beautiful big guy." Inside the dock of the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Navy, Greyson Luis, looked at the Dreadnought taking shape with an excited expression and said with a smile.

"Although the numerous secondary guns have been cancelled, the number of main guns on the Dreadnought has increased. From an aesthetic point of view, the appearance of the Dreadnought truly crushes the preceding warships, but I just don't know if it can meet our indicators." The Deputy Naval Commander on the side, although he also liked the appearance of the Dreadnought, was somewhat worried about whether a warship that completely cancelled secondary guns could pass the Naval Department's indicator requirements.

One must know that the indicator requirements Carlo gave to the naval department were no joke.

The speed had to reach 21 knots, the firepower had to exceed the previous Monarch-class battleships, and the armor protection capability had to be further improved. It was not so easy to achieve progress in all three of these aspects.

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

However, the full-load displacement of the Ferdinand II battleship was only 13, 00 tons, far less than the Dreadnought's conventional displacement of at least 17, 00 tons.

The full-load displacement of the Dreadnought reached over 20, 00 tons; this was not only Spain's first 20, 00-ton giant ship, but also the world's first battleship with a full-load displacement exceeding 20, 00 tons.

Although standard displacement is generally calculated when calculating warship tonnage, this did not affect the Spanish naval department viewing the Dreadnought as a true 20, 00-ton giant ship, regarding it as the pride and future of the Spanish Navy.

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

These warships in the thousand-ton class played more of an auxiliary role, so the Spanish Navy did not have excessive requirements for the performance of these small and medium-sized warships, as long as they remained at a first-class European level.

As the main body of the navy, the battleships and submarines were expected by the navy to remain at the top level among European navies. Only in this way could the Spanish Navy erupt with sufficiently powerful combat effectiveness and compete with those old-established naval powers.

As the cold winter passed, on March 11, 1902, Spain welcomed an extremely important day: the Dreadnought was officially completed, and the navy secretly prepared a launching ceremony for it that was not grand, but had a very luxurious lineup.

Those participating in the Dreadnought's launching ceremony were either the highest level of the Spanish military or the high-level officials of the Spanish government, and only high-ranking officials above the level of cabinet minister were allowed to participate.

As for those officials and generals whose rank was not high enough, they not only lacked the qualifications to attend this launching ceremony, but they were not even qualified to know specific news regarding the Dreadnought.

On March 11, 1902, as a luxurious motorcade arrived at the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, the launching ceremony for the Dreadnought was declared officially begun.

Carlo arrived at the shipyard with Prime Minister Angelo Orcajo, accompanied by the current Minister of Defense, General of the Spanish Royal Army, Choti.

The rank system of Spain was universal, but according to the different troops served in, it could generally be divided into three types of warships.

Army rank, naval rank, and Royal Army rank.

Although the levels of these ranks were the same, an army general certainly could not command the navy, and a naval general certainly could not command the army.

The Royal Army rank was independent of the army and navy and could be considered the highest rank in Spain. Simply put, those 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 Defense, Choti; his General rank was a Royal Army rank, which could also be understood as an Army-Navy General, rather than purely an Army General or a Naval General.

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

Currently, only high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense possessed Royal Army ranks, such as the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, and others.

In addition to the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense, the Army Department and Naval Department under the Ministry of Defense also had their own general staffs. However, the chiefs of these general staffs held the ranks of their respective branches, not the special Royal Army rank.

As for the Grand Marshal rank held by Carlo, strictly speaking, it also belonged to the Royal Army rank.

Regardless of how many branches Spain had, Carlo was the nominal supreme commander of all Spanish armed forces, and the Marshal rank naturally included all army and naval units, and in the future, it would also include air force units.

Since Prime Minister Primo and Prime Minister Serrano, Spain had not had a Marshal rank. This was not because Carlo did not grant it, but because the generals under him had not yet achieved enough merit to become Marshals.

Whether it was an Army Marshal, Naval Marshal, or Royal Army Marshal, it required sufficient merit to pave the way.

Once one became a Marshal, it meant that this officer would become the best of all Spanish officers. If there was no sufficient merit to pave the way for prestige, a large number of officers would express dissatisfaction with the new Marshal.