Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The thing that Ferdinand was most worried about did not happen after all. The dreadnought, which the Italians were supposed to commission in early 1914, bounced, and of course the battleship Dante Allegri, which they planned to commission in 1913, was long overdue.

The main parameters of Dante-Aligori:

Displacement: 19552 tons

Length: 168.1m

Width: 26.6 meters

Draft: 8.8m (average)

Main engine: Parsons type direct drive steam turbine 3 sets/4 shafts

Main boilers: 7 Brackington-type oil-fired water-tube boilers, 16 co-fired water-tube boilers

Power: 32,300 horsepower

Speed: 23 knots

Endurance: 4800 nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament: 4 305mm 46x caliber triple-mounted guns (one in front and one in the rear, two in midship), 4 120mm 50x caliber single-mounted guns, 12 single-mounted guns, 76mm 40x caliber single-mounted guns 13 doors, 4 450mm underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: 254mm broadside, 38mm deck, turret unknown, 254mm front turret, 305mm conning tower

Crew: 981

Remarks: This class of ships is the earliest warship in the history of shipbuilding to use triple turrets. The main gun has a range of 18,000 meters.

In addition, the ship set a speed record of 24.2 knots during the trial voyage, making it the fastest battleship in the world at that time.

Now the extension is Julio Caesar. It was supposed to be commissioned in February. It is now May and still not completed, but it is estimated that it is almost completed now.

Since the Italian shipbuilding industry was a hindrance, Ferdinand's conjecture that the Allies attacked the French's Mediterranean fleet naturally did not happen.

Of course, the most important thing is that the two dreadnoughts ordered by the Ottoman Empire from the Germans were stopped by the British on their way back home. With the strength of the Italian navy now, they attacked the French fleet. Most of them were meat buns and dogs. Of course the Italians won't do it.

The British blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar,

It directly triggered the "warship crisis", and the war between the Allies and the Allies was drawn again, and the war was about to break out!

Well, Ferdinand thought that the two sides would fight directly, Bulgaria carried out a national mobilization, and the Germans directly retreated!

Think about it, everyone knows that a war in Europe may break out at any time, but to the Germans that if a war breaks out now, the two dreadnoughts will be finished first, which is very unfavorable to the Germans militarily!

Besides, the warships that the Germans launched last year have not yet had time to serve? As long as we wait a few more months, the German Navy can add four dreadnoughts, and the two dreadnoughts here are six, which will further narrow the gap with the British!

As for the Allies, is everyone not ready yet? If war breaks out now, the French will be miserable, prepare to withstand the Germans alone for a month or two!

Obviously this is not the result everyone wants. Although the British want to weaken France, the premise is to defeat the Germans first! Otherwise, if the French were maimed by the Germans ahead of time, how would they fight after the war?

...

Intercepting these two warships is mainly because the British did not want to let the two dreadnought ships of the Ottomans return home, which broke the naval dominance of the Allied countries in the Mediterranean Sea and affected the sea control of the Mediterranean Sea, so they blocked the Strait of Gibraltar and prohibited the passage of warships. It meant that the British were ready for war.

And the Germans are now short of warships. No matter how they broke out, the gap with the British is still so huge. The German Navy has always had the idea of ​​requisitioning these two dreadnoughts, but it was stopped by the German government because of allies.

The British are now doing as they wish, and the Germans took over the two dreadnoughts naturally. Although the two dreadnoughts could not change the situation that the German Navy was still at a disadvantage, it finally narrowed the gap between the two sides!

Of course, protests are indispensable, so why should the Ottomans be given an explanation?

Yingde's actions made the people who eat melons stunned, and there is such an operation!

In order to appease the Ottoman Empire, the Germans said that since the British blocked the way, the warship must not be delivered, so just rebuild it in Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and upgrade the configuration at the same price, and send two more cruisers. !

The problems of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were naturally solved by the Germans. The Ottomans only needed to wait for two more years before they could get the dreadnoughts. The Ottoman government had no choice but to accept the Germans’ words. .

...

The failure of the two major alliances to fight has disappointed many people, such as the Americans on the other side of the ocean and the Japanese in the Far East. They are all looking forward to the stars and the moon, looking forward to the outbreak of war on the European continent!

Ferdinand knew that at this stage, the two sides were only a little bit short of sparks. Originally, he thought that the return of the Ottoman navy would be the fuse for the two sides, but he did not expect that the British and German sides had their own ghosts, and this happened. .

...

No matter how the international situation develops, what Ferdinand needs to do now is to prepare for war, reserve enough strategic materials in advance, and recruit enough cannon fodder, which are the top priorities of the Bulgarian government now!

After the warship crisis broke out, Ferdinand convened a cabinet meeting to speed up Bulgaria's preparations for war.

"Prime Minister, start to increase grain reserves from now on, and let the media release rumors that Ukraine and Romania will have a shortfall of grain in the next two years, and international grain prices will soon rise. It is recommended that the people reserve grain in advance! When necessary, the government will also You can come forward and cooperate, and let the people reserve as much food as possible.”

Ferdinand has worked so hard to get the credibility established by the media, and it's time for them to make a difference. If it is said that the domestic grain is not harvested in Bulgaria, this estimate cannot deceive people, but when it comes to foreign countries, it is different. There is no Internet in this era, and it is almost impossible for ordinary people to check the news!

Even if someone swears that this news is fake, it will have no effect! Everyone knows that in Bulgaria, as long as there is a newspaper that publishes fake news, in addition to closing down the newspaper office, the relevant personnel will all go to jail!

In the eyes of ordinary people, it is impossible for all the newspapers in Bulgaria to collectively get into the water and publish this fake news together, right?

Moreover, Ferdinand is not a rumor. As long as the war breaks out, the lack of food harvest is inevitable. Now the most important thing is to seize the last time and search for another batch of food!

Although the General Staff has sworn to guarantee that the Wallachia Plain in Romania will be taken at the beginning of the war, it can completely guarantee the domestic food supply.

However, Ferdinand couldn't quite believe it. It was not a big problem to win the Wallachia Plain. It was originally a flat river, and it bordered Bulgaria. Romania couldn't even defend it!

As for whether it can guarantee the food supply in Bulgaria, it is difficult to say. The military can at most guarantee that the area will be taken down, and the resumption of production has nothing to do with them.

In theory, after winning the Wallachia Plain, Bulgaria's total grain output will directly increase by one-third on the existing scale, enough to meet domestic demand, and there is still a lot of wealth.

In fact, as long as the local Romanians do not cooperate, it will be impossible to restore food production without two or three years' effort!

"Yes!" Chekov replied

The Information Agency and the Ministry of Science and Technology are also under the responsibility of Chekov. Otherwise, the title of Minister of Education is not enough to make him the number two person in the Bulgarian cabinet!

"Prime Minister, how many young men have we brought in from Russia so far?" Ferdinand asked again.

Konstantin thought for a while and said, "There were originally more than 800,000 Russian laborers in the country. Since last year, we have increased the import efforts. Now there are about 700,000 young Russians who have arrived in Bulgaria. There are still about 200,000 young people who have been organized, and if the war breaks out at the end of the year, then we can bring in about 700,000 to 800,000!"

Ferdinand figured it out. Even if the war broke out immediately, Bulgaria added 14.5 million cannon fodder. It would be better if it could be delayed until the end of the year. The 2.2 million 300,000 cannon fodder is basically enough for the consumption of the world war. Of course, if there are more, the result will be more perfect!

"Continue to work hard, the work in this area can't be relaxed. Once the war breaks out, the Russians will definitely recruit troops, and it will not be easy to recruit people at that time!" Ferdinand said lightly.

"Okay, Your Majesty! Let's speed up!" Constantine replied affirmatively

In order to facilitate the smooth progress of the combat preparations, Ferdinand remained in Sofia for the central command, and he did not even participate in the service of the two super dreadnoughts that had just been built.

The two dreadnoughts were named by Ferdinand: Constantinople and Balkan.

The political meaning here is very strong. The Constantinople is Ferdinand's achievement in restoring the holy city of Constantinople; and the last Constantinople was in the second Balkans. It sank in the war, and the people strongly demanded that it be rebuilt. Ferdinand will naturally obey the will of the people!

From the literal meaning of the Balkan number light, everyone knows that this is Ferdinand's oath of sovereignty over the Balkan Peninsula; the deeper purpose is to tell the Allied Powers that this is our previous agreement, and everyone must abide by it!

The specifications of the two warships are the same, the parameters are as follows:

Displacement: 26500 tons

Length: 189.7m

Width: 27 meters

Draft: 8.3m

Main engine: Parsons type direct drive steam turbine 2 sets/4 shafts

Main boiler: 22 B\u0026amp;W type (Hercules is Yarrow type) mixed-fired water boilers

Power: 34,000 horsepower

Speed: 22.5 knots

Endurance: 4000 nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament: 7 305mm 45x caliber twin-mounted guns (two in front and three in the back, one on each side), 20 150mm 50x caliber single-mounted guns, 4 47mm single-mounted guns, 450mm 4 underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: 270mm broadside, 70mm deck, 270mm turret, 320mm front turret, 310mm conning tower

Crew: 1046~1126