My Italy

Buenos Aires, located on the south bank of the Rio de la Plata, is a pearl of South America. The excellent natural pasture in the Pampas grassland makes the area an excellent livestock production area in the world. Argentina’s cattle products have always been a strong commodity on the market, which has also made Buenos Aires, located in it, the core city of the region.

Therefore, after Argentina became independent, Buenos Aires unsurprisingly became its capital.

The Argentine people have been doing very well in recent years. The well-developed livestock industry and pleasant climate have attracted a large number of immigrants. Argentina's development can be said to be booming. But even so, Argentina still has its own troubles.

That was the territorial dispute with Chile in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, both countries gaining independence from Spain in 1810. In the early days, the borders between the two countries followed Spanish divisions. Even the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Trade and Commerce signed by the two countries in 1855 only generally recognized their independent borders from Spain.

Subsequently, the two countries re-signed a boundary treaty three years ago, delimiting the boundary at the eastern entrance of the strait. For unknown reasons, the boundaries of the Beagle Channel and the ownership of the three islands (Picton Island, Lennox Island, and Nueva Island) have not been determined. These three islands located in the western section of the strait have rich fishery resources. Since their ownership has not been determined, fishermen from both countries come here to fish.

Since they all come to fish, there will be disputes, and as the disputes intensify, the two countries will naturally be involved.

With the intervention of the two governments, the relationship between the two countries completely deteriorated, and because the area is located near the Strait of Magellan and the climate change is extremely severe, the only one that can play a role here is the navy. Therefore, the two countries need their navy to speak more for disputed territories.

However, in terms of navy, the gap between Argentina and Chile is not small. Chile, which just won the Guano War, has a navy that is much higher than Argentina in terms of size, performance of warships, and the level of its officers and soldiers. This allowed the Argentine Navy to be suppressed by it in several confrontations and conflicts.

This situation is very detrimental to Argentina's desire to occupy the three islands. So naturally, the Navy's calls for the purchase of new ships are getting louder and louder.

Faced with the call of the Navy, Julio Roca, as the President of Argentina, certainly cannot ignore it. This will not give him the upper hand in discussing with Navy Minister General Juan Gojoneche which warships to purchase suitable for confrontation with the Chilean Navy.

"First of all, we need to suppress the opponent in terms of speed, secondly, we need to have sufficient firepower to make the Chileans learn to calm down, and secondly, we need to withstand the opponent's firepower in terms of armor."

General Goyone opened his mouth by stating the Navy's requirements.

Although President Rocca has never been in the navy, he is also a soldier. When he heard so many requests from the Navy Minister, he felt that the cost this time was not small.

"Juan, the budget given by the Ministry of Finance is limited. You must pay attention to overspending, otherwise Thomas from the Ministry of Finance will not be easy to talk to."

"Please rest assured, Mr. President, our Navy will control the budget."

Faced with General Goyone's assurance, President Rocca did not believe it at all. He was very familiar with this person's temperament. Whenever he got an opportunity, he would desperately try to get funding from the navy.

Although this is basically the case for the navies and armies of all countries in the world, compared with others, General Goyone is inferior. For a small fee, he would act like a dead dog and disgust others to death, especially Thomas from the Ministry of Finance.

If it weren't for his deep support in the navy, President Rocca would have wanted to kick this shameless general out of his own government department.

"So do you have any suitable options?"

His Excellency the President was too lazy to talk nonsense and directly asked about the navy's plans.

"Yes, of course there is. Our Navy Department has carefully selected three warships as options."

As he spoke, General Goyone took out three drawings for the president to choose from. He also explained it carefully.

"This first picture is from the United Kingdom. There is currently no physical object. It has just started construction, so we can only look at the drawings. This is a British armored cruiser named Black-class. As far as we know, the maximum speed of the ship's design is 20 knots. , equipped with 10 6-inch naval guns, 2 9.2-inch first-level main guns, and a displacement of 8,100 tons, which is very suitable for the needs of our navy."

"What about price?"

It is clear that His Excellency the President is more concerned with another issue.

"We made an inquiry to the UK and found out that the price of the ship is 560,000 pounds, mainly because the cost of power is a little higher."

When asked by the President, General Goyone truthfully gave the price. In fact, the United Kingdom is still building a 10,000-ton cruise ship, but that thing is more expensive and is not something Argentina can consider.

"There is no way the Ministry of Finance can agree to this price. You also know how much the Ministry of Finance will allocate."

As the Minister of the Navy, General Goyone certainly knows how much the Ministry of Finance has allocated this time, which is only 410,000 pounds. This price cannot buy the warship he likes, but it depends on people, and they always need to fight for it. It is not his way to give up like this. style.

Then he took out a card and said. "This is a newly developed cruise ship in France. It is equipped with four 190mm main guns and eight 160mm secondary main guns..."

General Goyone introduced that the tonnage of this French patrol is also 7,000 tons. However, compared with the British patrol just now, the French patrol is much inferior in firepower. The only advantage is that its speed is faster than that of the British patrol. Fast, reaching a speed of 21 knots. Of course, letting it run at such a fast speed would be a bit awkward on the armor.

Of course, this is all nitpicking. For Argentina, both models are suitable, but the price exceeds the budget. The French model is priced at 526,000 pounds.

The price of these two ships was not acceptable at first glance, so Mr. President looked at the Minister of the Navy and asked, "Do you have any more?"

"There is another one."

As he spoke, General Goyone took out a drawing and continued. "This is an improved version of the Venice-class armored cruiser from Italy. This battleship was developed by the Italian Navy after making certain improvements after the war in the China Sea. This battleship..."

From General Goyone, President Rocca learned that this Italian patrol equipment was equipped with four 10-inch twin main guns, 10 twin 5-inch secondary main guns, and other secondary guns. It can be said that except for being weaker than the two British and French warships in terms of speed, this battleship is far more powerful than them in other aspects.

Even he, who doesn't understand the navy, can feel this.

"So how much does this battleship cost?"

"£550,000."

“Is the price right?”

Hearing General Goyone's offer made President Rocca hesitate.

"Your Excellency, these three armored cruisers are currently the best in the world, and they are also warships that meet our urgent needs."

Thinking of the current territorial dispute with Chile, President Roca gritted his teeth and said. "Are you sure that if you buy this ship, you can suppress the Chileans?"

"I can guarantee that."

President Rocca was relieved after hearing General Goyone's assurances from the navy. Although the Secretary of the Navy is a screw-up in other respects, his work ethics and abilities are recognized. Since the disadvantage can be moved back, then the boat is worth buying.

"So which one do you think is more suitable for Argentina?"

"Italy's Venetian improved model, although the price is similar, everyone can see the difference in firepower and armor."

"Then send a telegram to Italy to inquire about our order for warships."

Well, in fact, General Goyone had only one choice in his eyes from the beginning, and that was the Venice Improved class. This warship has just withstood the test of the war, and it is much better than other cruise ships that are still based on drawings. However, its high price made General Goyone very worried about getting approval from the president.

And here he played a trick. When asking about the construction and installation inspections of Britain and France, he specifically proposed to purchase various spare parts. The reason was that Argentina was too far away from the two countries, and preparing various parts in advance could save time.

The ship quotations sent by Britain and France included the prices of these spare parts, which naturally greatly increased the quotations of the warships of the two countries. Then they competed with Venice, which had better firepower and armor. The two warships that had no price advantage were even beaten.

General Goyone, who got the result he wanted, was immediately happy to send a telegram to Italy.

Two chapters, so tiring. I'll take a break someday. Please give more recommendation votes.