Three large York-class light cruisers, plan a: equipped with 4 380mm main guns, 8 150mm secondary guns, standard displacement not exceeding 18,000 tons, speed equal to that of the German combat patrol, protection similar to that of the Schánhorst-class armored cruiser; plan b: equipped with 4 420mm main guns, 6 150mm secondary guns, standard displacement not exceeding 20,000 tons, speed equal to that of the German combat patrol, protection similar to that of the Schánhorst-class armored cruiser.

Although Italian Foreign Minister Song Nino only overheard a little bit at the grand reception held at the Grand Hotel in Berlin Square, the Italian naval officer who was romantic in Berlin still locked himself in the office and based on his own experience. The Italians obviously did not believe in the Germans' rhetoric of the new warship "large light cruiser", and processed York-class art into a shrinking version of the battle patrol, and sent it back to Rome overnight through encrypted codes.

The Italian Navy's exploration of new technologies and new tactics is endless, and Italian designers have indeed built many advanced warships in the era of the Steam Navy. When the naval officers sent back the rough data of Germany's "latest warships", the Italian Navy, who likes to be curious, was ecstatic and set this information to the top secret level.

Yes, top secret level! It is unrealistic to expect the Italians to stop leaking secrets (hereinafter referred to as top secret). Perhaps the Italians had never thought about keeping the secret. Soon, the British naval intelligence department learned about the information, and powerful countries such as France and the United States also learned about the "confidentiality" from Rome, which was airtight on all sides. However, the German emperor William finally heard the news.

Emperor William, who had just offered a considerable amount of shipbuilding funds for the navy, temporarily stopped the hunting plan for the Northern Forest and excitedly summoned the minister who was in charge of naval shipbuilding to Charlottemberg Palace. As a result, the minister in charge of shipbuilding widened his eyes and confessed that he knew nothing.

No matter how shocked Emperor William was, the large light cruiser still set off a wave of fanaticism around the world, which is unimaginable by the so-called "despicable rumor initiator" in the private diary of the post-war Chilean Navy Chief of Staff.

Although Wang Heidi boasted about the perfect cruiser in the controversial paper "On Asymmetrical Warfare in the Age of Battleships", Fisher, who was once a fan of battlecruisers, was also a supporter of battleship cruisers, but the United States, France, Italy, Russia, and Austro-Hungary, which were still struggling in the quagmire of the dreadnought competition, all chose to wait and see.

Before the European War, only Britain, Germany and Japan had fearless cruisers, namely battle cruisers. In 1915, the Japanese had four King Kong-class battle cruisers, and this number should have been reduced by one. Fortunately, the Japanese took home the King Kong-class battle cruisers they ordered from the UK before the outbreak of the European War, and then they escaped the black hand of British allies by chance.

In November 1914, the Dogel Sands Battle broke out, the Battle Patrol team's high maneuverability, raids and reconnaissance effects were reflected in this naval battle. After the war, the U.S. Navy held a heated discussion on whether to build a Lexington-class battle cruiser, while the Japanese were complacent about having the King Kong-class battle cruiser.

After the messy 1914, the magnificent 1915 Naval War, the Battle of the Falkland Islands once again proved the value of the battlecruiser.

The Speer fleet slipped out of East Asia consisted of only two armored cruisers defined by Britain as the Schánhorst class and three light cruisers. As a result, the two balanced Schánhorst class relied on their speed faster than the old battleships. The strong firepower and protection power of the cruisers became a sea bully who killed gods and Buddhas. After the Battle of Coronel, the Speer fleet even cut off the routes of the South Atlantic and South Pacific.

However, when Churchill spread out three tireless-class battlecruisers known as the "cheapest in the world", the definition of Battle Cruises as "cruiser killer" was best interpreted. Although the Gneesenau escaped by chance, the whole world saw the powerlessness of armored cruisers facing Battle Cruises.

Since that day, a naval power with battle cruisers has been in full swing, and a country that has not yet obtained this scarce product is restless, fearing that it will fall behind.

Unfortunately, the French, who were financially in trouble, have devoted all their efforts to three Brittany-class battleships and the unprecedented Normandy-class battleships. The planned 1913-year-old 13.4-inch main guns were equipped with three four-way 13.4-inch main guns, with a standard displacement of 28,000 tons and a maximum speed of 28 knots, and was cancelled early due to insufficient resources and funding; Italy was still staring at the three Duke of Cafur and two Cao-Durion-class battleships in service. Trying to firmly occupy the throne of the Mediterranean overlord, although they started construction of an eight-door 15-inch 40-diameter main gun equipped with a standard displacement of 31,400 tons, a maximum speed of 28 knots, and a waterline with a main armor thickness of up to 11 inches.

(caracciolo) Fast battleship, but whether the poor and weak Italy can complete this major project is still a question; the ambitious Austro-Hungarian Empire received a huge sum of 426.8 million Crohn from the parliament, trying to build four more advanced super-dreadnought ships, but the huge sum was quickly used for other purposes after the outbreak of the European war. After the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the Austro-Hungarian navy designed a battle cruiser code-named III based on the actual drawings of the dead super-dreadnought. However, the former commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy "does not need battle cruisers at all, it is something that a first-class naval power needs, because they have vast seas to control" has already predicted the fate of this battle cruiser to end without success.

The Americans are rich and powerful, but unfortunately, the power of the U.S. Congress, the biggest enemy of the U.S. Navy designers, cannot be underestimated. Two Pennsylvania-class ships in the 1913 fiscal year were just launched, and the three New Mexico-class battleships planned for fiscal year 1914 were laid keels last year. Some of the South Carolina-class dreadnoughts and Mississippi-class dreadnoughts were used as examples. Even the naval strongman Roosevelt dared not expect to obtain funds from the parliament to build the Lexington-class battlecruiser.

In March 1915, the navy members of the world's naval powers were unable to sleep or eat for battle cruisers, but wonderful news unexpectedly spread from a small piece of Italy and became a tsunami that swept the world.

The Battle of Jutland broke out, and the German battleships fought against one and two, dragging down the British fast fleet twice as much as theirs. While sinking four British battleships, they also showed off their life and death speed in front of the British large fleet battleships. The German battleships fought back their disadvantages under the British's best T-shaped horizontal strike, and sank two battleships.

It can be said that German warships have become the weather vane of the world's navy. While the Germans continued their huge battle patrol construction plans, they also came up with a shrinking version of the battle patrol - a large light cruiser. The pursuit of this new battleship by the maritime powers inevitably spread.

"It is impossible to build a real battle patrol. It is still possible to build a few large light cruisers that exist as shrinking versions of battle patrols to scare people!" This is the common voice of the world's navy.

In fact, even the first German battlecruiser, which is used to being calculating, costs 1.9 million pounds. Even the cheapest tireless war cruiser in the world, cost 1.52 million pounds. This is what happened before the sharp depreciation of the pound. Now, Germany's most advanced Defringer-class battle cruiser is excluding the depreciation factor of the pound. The cost is as high as 2.77 million pounds. The cost of the British lion-class battle cruiser is generally more than 2 million pounds after deducting moisture. The expensive price is obviously a pain that the financially tight powers cannot bear, but if it is a relatively cheap shrinking version of the battle cruiser, the United States, France, Italy, and Austria, obviously have the ability to start a big killing. Even the inequality South American ABC three strong men have started to think about it.

"Deducting the shipbuilding funds of one Hood-class and three Nelson-class battleships, the modification funds of three Revenge-class battleships, the special shipbuilding funds added by the parliament last year was less than 1.6 million pounds left." Belfort's sharp eyes swept across the audience, trying to continue the inciting emotions: "Although the national debt we issued in the United States is cold, the naval reconstruction work is urgent. Prime Minister Bonalao has decided to use gold reserves to provide us with a shipbuilding fund of more than 15 million pounds. Our mission is to spend this money and money with great value!"

"Mr. Balfour. As the commander of the Great Fleet, I think the primary problem facing the Royal Navy is how to curb the impact of the German Battle Patrol. The Battle of Scargerac Straits proved that Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships could not keep up with the Battle Patrol in actual combat. Three prestige battleships converted from Revenge-class battleships and a new battleship consisting of a lion-class, an old-fashioned battleship consisting of a tireless and two invincible classes obviously could not curb three German Markensen-class, three Deflinger-class and one Seedlitz-class."

The second Berlin naval political storm ended suddenly, and German Navy Secretary Capelle resigned. Heidi Silem was the commander of the First Reconnaissance Fleet, the rank of Lieutenant General, and the deputy commander of the Ocean Fleet. Young people who advocated active attacks had initially grasped the power of the German Navy. The Germans' raids on the British mainland were imminent, so in the work log of Jackson, the commander-in-chief of the Great Fleet. The fast fleet was the top priority. When Belfort shouted out the famous words "explosive warships" that once warmed the hearts of the British Empire in 1915, Jackson first thought of the fast fleet that had been crippled.

"The Germans are about to start construction of three shrinking versions of the Battle Patrol, and the advantages of the German Battle Patrol team are still expanding. Unfortunately, the fast fleet cannot handle all this."

"General Jackson, don't worry. In fact, the Royal Navy had similar plans..." The memo that was pressed by Belfort finally turned to a new page, and the Navy Minister told a shocking secret in a soothing tone.

"Before the war, the Admiralty Department secretly formulated a plan to attack the Baltic Sea. According to the plan, Marshal Fisher asked the Navy design department to design a brave-class cruiser equipped with heavy artillery that can operate freely in shallow sea areas. This brave-class cruiser used as shallow-water heavy artillery boats has a standard displacement of 17,000 tons, a designed speed of 32 knots, and is equipped with two double-mounted 15-inch 42-diameter main guns, six triple-mounted 4-inch secondary guns, a waterline with main armor 2-3 inches, a front armor of the turret 13 inches, and a command tower armor of 10 inches, costing 1.5 million pounds, and it is planned to build three ships. After the Battle of Dogel Sands, the Admiralty Department canceled the plan to attack the Baltic Sea, so the design work of the brave-class cruiser was stopped at the end of 1914."

The cruiser mentioned by Belfort is the famous cruiser in later generations. Since the battlefield of the cruiser is mainly in the Baltic Sea with smaller winds and waves, it is used as shallow water heavy gunboats and limited cruiser killers, the brave-class cruiser uses a hull length and width ratio, and is equipped with a 15-inch main gun that does not meet the identity of the cruiser. It has an ultra-high speed of 32 knots that are faster than the destroyer, and it is also unable to face even the protective armor of the cruiser.

"I am sure that the purpose of the German large light cruiser is not to attack our Scapa Bay or London..." The price of 1.5 million pounds made the naval executives in the conference room of the British Empire's Admiralty Department illuminate the eyes of the naval executives. As a universal currency in the world, the pound is no longer as strong as before the war. 1.5 million pounds is as high as 1.1 million pounds in 1914. Admiral Jackson, who focuses on technology, did the simplest mathematical calculations in his heart, smiled bitterly and continued:

"It is obvious that the Germans positioned the so-called large York-class light cruiser as a shrinking version of the battlecruiser. It does not participate in the battle line as a main ship, but is a relatively cheap cruiser killer. In the long naval arms race, the Germans who were in full swing cannot afford it, and they have to launch the shrinking version of the battlecruiser to liberate the First Reconnaissance Fleet."

"That's it..." First Sea Minister Goff Karthorp let go of his fists and slowly expressed his point: "But I'm sure that in the arms race, we have only a lot more overdrafts of national strength than the Germans. So we need such a cheap weapon than the Germans, and we should regain the construction plan of the brave cruiser."

"I agree!" Before the Secretary of the Navy made the final decision on the brave cruiser, General Jackson, the commander-in-chief of the Fleet, who was a technical officer, could not wait to plan for the courage improvement plan:

"In order to save shipbuilding funds, I suggest strict control of the tonnage of the Brave class: the length and width ratio of the Brave class hull needs to be modified. The North Sea is not the quiet Baltic Sea. I don't want to copy the tragedy of the Swedish super battleship Vassar. Six-seat triple-mounted secondary guns can be cut by two, twelve 4-inch secondary guns and two 76mm secondary guns are more than enough. Also, the speed of German cruisers generally does not exceed 25 knots, and we do not need 32 knots. The saved tonnage can be used to strengthen protection. We must at least ensure that the Brave class waterline belt can form continuous protection, and the side main armor can reach at least 4-5 inches."

"Then start construction of three brave-class large light cruisers! Gentlemen, before this large light cruiser is put into service, you must keep the secret and use the hush-hush-cruiser as its code name, because we want to surprise the Germans!"

In a moment, the terrifying cruiser was born. Belford made a mark on the page of the memorandum, confidently opening a new page, allowing the meeting to continue:

"The three damn York class already have bravery to deal with it. It's time to consider how to kill Germany's increasingly powerful battle patrol team..."

ps: The 1913 battle cruiser plan mentioned in the article, the Italian caracciolo-class fast battleship, and the American Lexington-class battle cruise are all real. In addition, Germany does have a squid cruiser, which was also built by Emperor William. If you are interested, you can Google it yourself. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian() to vote for recommendations, monthly votes, and your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter completed!