My Italian Chapter 507

In the boundless sea, a neat and beautiful warship was sailing in the water. The towering towers and Wuwei's huge artillery all showed its strength, and there were water marks with rolling waves behind the ship.

The ship is the only battleship intrepid that Italy can take out, and on this Italian most powerful battleship, there are a large number of U.S. Navy officers.

"The speed of this ship is really fast."

An officer of the U.S. Navy praised the battleship under his feet while feeling the oncoming sea breeze.

Since the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy has attached great importance to the importance of speed after having personal experience. If nothing else, the speed of the battleships built over the years is not lower than 18 knots, regardless of their performance.

Among them, the Virginiclass battleship, which was launched two years ago, has a speed of up to 20 knots, and has become the top three in the speed of the former dreadnought battleships of various countries. The transformation of the U.S. Navy from an extreme emphasis on defense to an extreme emphasis on speed is astounding.

But speaking of it, there is nothing wrong with the U.S. Navy's emphasis on starting speed. Americans who cross two oceans do need to pay more attention to the speed of warships. If they still pay attention to protection as before, then there is a problem.

In addition to the speed, the group of American naval officers were very curious about everything on the Dreadnought, especially when the Dreadnought launched a salvo, which caused these Americans to scream.

"Lieutenant General Hilma, your country's Dreadnought is really an epoch-making warship, with a perfect combination of firepower, protection and speed. Its appearance has directly changed the shipbuilding plans of the navies of various countries, and all the warships built before will be destroyed. Sweep into the trash."

Rear Admiral Sperry knew the navy very well, and he was able to praise the Dreadnought so unremittingly because the battleship was indeed outstanding. Since its inception two years ago, there must be a photo of the ship on the high-level navy tables of various countries.

At least Rear Admiral Sperry knows that the U.S. Navy has the most photos of the ship.

"Your Excellency Sperry is very kind. The ship is mainly designed and promoted by Viscount Kunibetti in our country, so this warship is born."

In the face of Lieutenant General Hilma's polite remarks, Sperry just listened to it. How can the designer promote such a major decision to build a ship, even the talented Viscount Kunibati can't do it. . He did not look down on the world-famous Viscount Cuniberti, on the contrary, he was very envious of such a talented warship designer in the Italian Navy.

But the cost of building a ship is too high, and it must be agreed by the navy and the government. It is impossible to rely on the strength of an individual, unless it is the leader of a country.

And Sperry's trip, in addition to visiting this purpose, the Dreadnought battleship is also one of the purposes.

It must be said here that the United States has also followed suit and built its own dreadnought South Carolinclass battleship. The ship has a length of 141 meters, a width of 24.5 meters, a draft of 7.5 meters, and a standard displacement of 16,500 tons. Equipped with 4 305mm 45x caliber twin-mounted guns (two front and two rear, piggyback), 22 76mm 50x caliber single-mounted guns, and 2 533mm underwater torpedo tubes.

The main engine is a vertical four-cylinder three-expansion reciprocating steam engine with 2 sets/2 shafts.

The performance of this battleship is too different from the Italian Dreadnought. Not to mention the displacement, the length of the ship is too short. After finding and installing 4 double-mounted main turrets, there is not much room left for the power part, not to mention the triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine still used by the US Navy, which makes the ship unable to perform as it should. combat power.

Therefore, on the side of the US Navy, they are very dissatisfied with this South Carolinclass dreadnought produced by their own designers, and they are more eager to keep up with the world trend. In this case, the U.S. Navy needs to find another way. It happens that the Great White Fleet of the United States is sailing around the world, so it is reasonable to visit Italy to directly experience the performance of this Intrepid.

The Italian side is also very cooperative, taking American officers to experience the performance of a real dreadnought. So after returning to Naples that day, a secret telegram was sent from Naples to America. This also led to the third day, Admiral Yagier, the Minister of the Navy, hurriedly found Carlo.

"Your Majesty, this is a request from the Americans to purchase our warships and technology."

Said that the Secretary of the Navy will make a list, which is the list of warships that the United States wants to purchase.

Carlo took the list and looked at it, but at a glance, his brows furrowed.

"Just a Dante-class battleship and a Taranto-class battlecruiser?"

Facing Carlo's doubts, Admiral Yagier nodded nervously.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Although the American prices for the two battleships are also high (a Dante-class battleship costs 60 million lire for the Americans, and Taranto is 75 million lire), but the Americans want Italy to take a full set of drawings of the two ships. It made Carlo feel a little worthless.

If you want to say that countries like Brazil and Argentina buy it like this, then Carlo decided to sell it, but the United States is different. The local tyrants will not talk about it. The key is that the shipbuilding strength of the United States is not much worse than that of Europe.

So faced with this offer, Carlo pounded the table to think about the pros and cons.

The positive factor is that Italy will make a fortune, which can be used to expand its own army.

As for the disadvantages, it is also obvious. This will improve the level of American shipbuilding, which is not conducive to future wars in Europe.

Of course, it might be a bit of a compliment to say that Italy has played a role, but it's true. At present, although the industrial scale of the United States far exceeds that of European countries, its technical level is much worse than that of Europe. In recent years, the United States has purchased a large number of precision instruments and various technologies from European countries. But in terms of military technology, European countries actually have a tacit understanding to cover the United States.

You can see that even in the Second World War, the United States, which has experienced a large number of high-skilled immigrants from various countries, was only able to catch up with Europe in its technical level. Not to mention that at present, the United States is still in the stage of a primary industrial country. Therefore, in the face of the request of the United States to purchase technology, Carlo had to consider carefully.

Of course, even without the help of Italy, the United States can certainly build dreadnoughts, but the performance is a little different from Europe.

"Well, the battleship is separated from the technology. If it is less than 200 million lire, we will not consider selling the technology. You can also ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help."

After mulling over it, Carlo made a request. If you don't sell a high price, how can you break the tacit understanding of various countries? Although Italy has made an exception once, it is too much. If you give less, then the rules are the rules.

In the face of the reply given by Carlo, Admiral Yagier had a bottom line.

Next, under the negotiation of the Navy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs~www.mtlnovel.com~ Italy and the United States had a difficult negotiation on the sale of warships and technology.

In the face of the 200 million lire demanded by the Italian lion, although the United States has money, the money is not blown by the wind, and it is also arguing with the rationale.

Even the negotiator Johns, the US ambassador to Italy, offered to buy only the technology of the war cruiser. But the U.S. request was rejected outright, and the Italian side insisted on a rigid requirement of either buying all or not.

Italy's daring to say this is also emboldened. First, among the countries currently only Italy dares to sell dreadnoughts and cruising technology. Second, the Italian navy judges that although the United States' technical demand for new warships is not as urgent as the last time, it is not optional. No.

In fact, the Italian Navy's judgment is correct, and the United States really wants the new warship technology urgently. Especially the installation and patrol technology is the most eye-catching for the U.S. Navy.

The reason is very simple. The battle patrol is the nemesis of the current national patrols. It is a perfect weapon for wanting to seize the large interests of European countries in South America.

After about a month of wrangling, the United States finally let go of purchasing a Dante-class battleship, a Taranto-class cruiser, and a full set of technologies for the two ships at a price of $40 million.

When the two countries negotiated the warship and technology deals, the Great White Fleet of the United States had already visited various European countries and embarked on a voyage back to the Americas.

Overall, the visit of the U.S. Great White Fleet was a success. It shows the majesty of the U.S. Navy to countries around the world. This voyage is also a practical test of the endurance of American warships, the reliability of mechanical devices, and the quality and endurance of the crew.

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Chapter end