[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-471":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365399,4632,"Chapter 471: Victor-class Super-dreadnought","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-471",471,"\u003Cp>In September 1908, the climate in the Spanish Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia was still quite hot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the port on the north side of Valencia, there existed the Valencia United Shipyard, one of the four major shipyards in Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Spain swapped its Cuban colony, the original Havana Shipyard in Cuba was replaced by the Valencia United Shipyard, which became one of Spain's new four major shipyards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following years of expansion and renovation projects, the current Valencia Shipyard has become, in effect, the largest shipyard in Spain; whether in terms of the number of dry docks or the tonnage of warships that can be built, it exceeds the original Royal Guanijo Shipyard and the El Ferrol Royal Naval Shipyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the Cartagena Shipyard, which ranks lowest, although it is also listed as one of the four major shipyards, it is firmly in last place regarding the number and specifications of its dry docks, and it does not have much of a gap compared to other shipyards that are not among the four major ones, such as the Barcelona Shipyard and the Lisbon Shipyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The temperature in the early morning was still quite cool, and gusts of sea breeze blew from the sea into the shipyard, bringing a sense of coolness to the workers in the dry docks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the roaring of steam inside the shipyard, accompanied by the piercing sound of metal cutting and the striking of hammers, the workers began their day's work in such an environment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the largest military shipyard in Spain at present, the Valencia United Shipyard possesses a total of four dry docks; the first two can build 25,000-ton super-giant ships, while the latter two can build 15,000-ton giant warships.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under normal circumstances, the interior of the shipyard is not completely locked down, and even some permitted media can enter to take a few photos, though these photos must be reviewed by the shipyard before they can be taken out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, starting in September, this largest shipyard in Spain has effectively declined all visitors. Aside from the various steel materials constantly being transported into the shipyard, only workers and technical experts come and go; outsiders have no qualifications to enter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This behavior by the Valencia United Shipyard has also sparked discussion among some of the public and newspapers. Many citizens believe that the Valencia United Shipyard is building brand-new battleships, and perhaps the performance of the new-style battleships being built is even more powerful than the Dreadnought-class battleships currently in service, which are hailed as the world's best design.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Precisely because of this, the Spanish public is quite curious and excited about the battleships being built inside the shipyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The news of the sudden lockdown of the Valencia United Shipyard has also attracted the attention of other super powers, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them, the British are the most concerned; there were even British media who tried to get close to the Valencia United Shipyard, only to be caught by the soldiers responsible for patrolling outside the shipyard and subsequently deported back to the United Kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this back and forth, although the British gained nothing, they were basically able to confirm that Spain was indeed building a brand-new battleship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the United Kingdom is also building super battleships with even greater tonnage, so the British side does not have such great concerns regarding the design of the battleship Spain is building, which might be of the same class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although they were led by Spain by one step in terms of Dreadnoughts, in the eyes of many British naval high-ranking officials and warship design experts, the United Kingdom still leads Spain in naval design and construction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just that the British were negligent before, like the rabbit that fell asleep in the tortoise and the hare race; as long as they wake up, they can still quickly catch up to and surpass Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The British are indeed doing just that. In addition to starting to quickly build Dreadnoughts of the same class, they are also simultaneously starting to develop super-dreadnoughts that are even more powerful than Dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The British are quite confident in the super-dreadnoughts they have designed; they believe that even if Spain's new warship design can slightly improve the performance of a Dreadnought, it is absolutely impossible to compare it to their own super-dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While the news of the Valencia United Shipyard's lockdown caused heated discussion in the outside world, on September 11, 1908, a motorcade suddenly arrived at the Valencia United Shipyard and quickly entered the interior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be able to enter the shipyard under such high-secrecy conditions, and even be greeted at the entrance by the shipyard's top management in person, it goes without saying that it must be Gao Da.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason Gao Da came to the Valencia United Shipyard in person was precisely to see with his own eyes the construction progress of Spain's super-dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since Gao Da saw this quite perfect super-dreadnought design a few months ago, the Spanish naval department immediately began the construction work for the super-dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Valencia United Shipyard is the provider of this design, so naturally, it will also primarily undertake the construction work of the super-dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of the experience and foundation laid by the previous Dreadnoughts, Spain does not intend to explore the super-dreadnoughts step by step, but rather to build two at once to see the results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lead ship of the Victor-class battleship, the Victor, was scheduled to begin construction on September 3, 1908, and is expected to be in service within the year 1911.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If things go smoothly, Spain's super-dreadnoughts will be able to catch up to the First World War, which is of course good news for Gao Da.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In terms of super-dreadnoughts, Spain is definitely considered quite fast. If Spain needs until 1911 to see the service of its super-dreadnoughts, this also means that most of the great powers are basically impossible to possess super-dreadnoughts during the First World War.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the Spanish Navy will have a more important role in the First World War, and even possess the ability to change the landscape of the war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is also why the Spanish Navy is building two super-dreadnoughts at once, rather than the way it was with the original Dreadnought-class battleships, where they waited until the first Dreadnought battleship was built and confirmed to have no problems before building the second one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, in addition to the role the super-dreadnoughts will play in the future world war, the fact that this design could make Gao Da and the naval high command very satisfied is also the reason why the naval department is building two at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cost of building one super-dreadnought is higher than the cost of a Dreadnought. Spain invested a total of 96 million pesetas to build these two super-dreadnoughts, which is equivalent to as high as 3.84 million pounds, meaning the average cost per battleship is already close to 2 million pounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the reason for such a high cost is that the design of the first two super-dreadnoughts requires certain modifications to existing equipment, and coupled with the fact that it is the first time building super-dreadnoughts, the construction period will also be dragged out a bit longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The increase in material costs, equipment costs, and labor costs together created the massive cost of the first two super-dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the subsequent construction goes relatively smoothly, the cost of each subsequent super-dreadnought can still be reduced to about 42 million pesetas, which is less than 1.7 million pounds.\u003C\u002Fp>",1268,"2026-06-25T09:27:15.200Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","1dd655f17996a54216e4319ff1ac1493077439bb298757a1e302f7440a52e5ee","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-472","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-470",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]