My Italy

Since unification, Taranto has been Italy's most important military port, so the navy has invested a lot in Taranto over the years. In addition to normal military facilities, these investments are also invested in technology research and development, so Taranto now has many research institutions and equipment factories.

These scientific research institutions have promoted the research and development of new equipment and new technologies for the Italian Navy, so Taranto is not only a simple military port, but also a naval base camp.

Therefore, Viscount Cuniberti, the chief designer of the Kingdom of Italy's navy, will come here from time to time, because this is currently the main research and development base for various new technologies in the navy. As the chief designer of the navy, Cuniberti also has his own office in Taranto. Because the Naval Ship Design Institute is also in Taranto.

"Damn, it's so unreliable, it's been postponed again."

Cuniberti pushed away the naval battleship design office, complaining all the way.

And his words made everyone else in the battleship design office open their eyes and look at the chief designer, who had offended the best battleship designer in Italy at present.

"Teacher, what's wrong?"

Unlike others, Pugliese, a student of Cuniberti, only came in and asked concerned about him after he returned to the office.

Pugliese respects his teacher very much, because it is because of his teacher's respect that he can become a battleship designer.

You know, not many people want to be talented Cuniberti students. As long as he shouts loudly that he wants to accept students, a long queue will definitely form in front of the design institute, and designers from all over the world will want to ask for his advice. Especially after he completed the dreadnought and the installation patrol, it established the teacher's lofty status in the world of warship design.

So far, there is only one student who can become the teacher's student, and that is him Pugliese. In some ways, Pugliese is proud enough, so he is completely different from others in some things.

And his guess was good. Cuniberti was quite patient with his students' inquiries. "Pedros broke his promise again and delayed the design of the 350mm naval gun."

When Pugliese heard the teacher's words, he immediately understood the teacher's mood and immediately added another sentence. "Mr. Pedros from the Naval Gun Research Institute, is this the second time he has broken his promise? Didn't the top brass of the Navy say anything?"

"Why didn't he say it? The Navy has informed him that if it continues to be postponed next time, then the Navy will need to consider the necessity of the naval gun research institute."

Pugliese was also shocked by Cuniberti's words. He didn't expect the navy to say such serious words.

"Teacher, why are the Navy so eager?"

Facing his student's inquiry, Cuniberti immediately answered. "There are two reasons. The external reason is that currently all countries are building a large number of new dreadnoughts, and the navy wants to ensure that the performance of its warships continues to be at the forefront. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a warship that can suppress the dreadnoughts of various countries. This That’s why we have received such high demands from the Navy for new battleships.”

Worthy of being the person who designed many epoch-making warships for the Italian Navy, Cuniberti accurately judged the navy's needs. Currently, countries all over the world are building dreadnoughts on a large scale, and the Italian Navy is far inferior to other countries in terms of numbers.

Take the British Empire as an example. In the two financial years of 1905 and 1906, it started construction of eight dreadnoughts of the Bellerophon class and the Saint Vincent class. It is said that next year, the British Empire will allocate funds to build three more ships. The momentum of the world's first navy cannot be compared.

In addition, the British Empire also made a decision in 1906 to start construction of four Invincible-class battlecruisers within two years. Moreover, this cruise ship is also very different from that in history. First of all, in terms of speed, the new Invincible class can run at a speed of 26 knots, and it also has eight 305mm naval guns in terms of firepower. Its goal is very clear, which is to target the threats from the battle patrols of Italy, Germany and the United States.

After all, the British Empire could see at a glance that this kind of warship posed a huge threat to sea routes, so the British Empire must have enough warships with the same performance.

In addition to the British Empire, countries such as France, which is facing huge pressure on land, Russia, which was defeated in the Far East, Austria-Hungary, which lacks maritime interests, and Japan, which has just become a great power, also have a huge desire for dreadnoughts. They were either preparing designs or working on construction plans. Anyway, in this maritime shipbuilding competition, no one is willing to give up the trident of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and all countries are participating to a greater or lesser extent.

Regarding his teacher's words, Pugliese, as a member of the designers, is of course aware of the recent situation. Therefore, after facing the navies of various countries launching dreadnoughts, as the sponsor of the dreadnoughts, how can the Italian Navy retreat?

At present, the Italian Navy has two plans. One is to launch an improved version of the Dante class. For the improved model of the Dante-class dreadnought, the naval warship design has many plans, from the standard 8 305 mm guns to the most exaggerated 12 guns, there is literally everything. This is all what Cuniberti has done with his design skills. The result of the hard work of my colleagues.

As for the second option, that is to build something that can suppress the existence of dreadnoughts under construction in various countries. Since you want to suppress the dreadnoughts of various countries, you must use more powerful artillery for the crucial firepower.

Among them, the first choice is the 350mm 45x main gun currently jointly developed by Germany, Italy and Austria. This artillery was launched after the successful development of the 305mm 45x main gun. Although after years of research, the three countries underestimated the difficulty of researching the 350mm 45x naval gun.

The research work that was supposed to be completed in 1906 has been delayed until 1907, and the deadline has been delayed again.

Of course, the Navy is not short of 350mm guns, because in addition to the option of increasing the caliber, the Navy can also choose to increase the multiple. At present, the research work on the 305mm 50x main gun jointly studied by the three countries has been completed. The shooting results of the prototype gun are pretty good. If there is no second option, then the Italian Navy cannot use this long barrel. The 305mm gun serves as the main gun of the new generation of dreadnoughts.

In fact, the research and development of this long-barreled 305mm main gun mainly relied on Germany and Austria. The technologies of the two arsenals of Krupp and Skoda are still very powerful, and their research and development work is progressing smoothly.

For this reason, the Italian Navy still complains, saying that the two countries' main research on naval guns is on long-barreled 305 mm naval guns, instead of focusing on the larger caliber 350 mm.

However, the current situation is not unacceptable to Cuniberti, because as an excellent battleship designer, designing an excellent battleship will come up with different plans according to different situations. Although warships using long-barreled 305mm main guns are far less deterrent than 350mm, they are not so unacceptable when there is no other way.