Struggle in Russia

The atmosphere in the meeting room was very dignified. The confrontation between Menshikov and Grand Duke Constantine made other generals feel that this meeting was unusual. Both Menshikov and Grand Duke Constantine are a bit aggressive. The water here is probably very deep!

Indeed, for old fritters like Grand Duke Constantine and Menshikov, personal likes and dislikes cannot completely determine their actions. It is always their interests that can determine their actions. As long as the interests are large enough, it is not impossible for the two of them to become gay friends.

So why are these two fighting against each other so much today?

The reason is simple, the annual budgeting day is fast approaching.

The end of the year is coming soon, and it is time to decide on the specific items of the Navy budget for the second year. This is not a trivial matter, it is a direct reflection of the power in the Ministry of the Navy. Whoever decides the allocation of projects and the amount of funds is the well-deserved leader of the Admiralty.

In the past, this power was completely controlled by Menshikov alone. The old eunuch spent the money as he said, so who dared to say no?

But now Grand Duke Konstantin does not like to follow Menshikov's baton. Not only was the old eunuch not paying attention to him all the time, but also because Grand Duke Constantine didn't like Menshikov's naval construction direction.

Under Menshikov's control, the Russian Imperial Navy is not much different from thirty years ago. It is a traditional and pure sailing fleet, which is incompatible with the current trend.

How could the wooden sailboats, front-loading artillery, and low-quality serf soldiers who were forced to enlist in the army win against the British Royal Navy, which played sailboats to the extreme?

The quality and quality of the French navy in the Napoleonic era was much stronger than that of the current imperial Russian navy, and it was also constantly rubbed in the sea by the Royal Navy. Can this have a chance?

Grand Duke Constantine believed that following the sailing route, what was waiting for the Russian Imperial Navy was only the second Getrafalgar. In order to realize the century-old ambition of the Romanov family, it is necessary to find a way to overtake in a corner, and to use new technologies or new tactics to catch up with the Royal Navy in one fell swoop.

Grand Duke Constantine thought steamship was a good direction. In this regard, both the Royal Navy and the old enemy, the French Navy, are in a state of pioneering and developing, and everything has not yet been finalized, which gives Russia a chance to catch up. As long as a large amount of money is invested, the disadvantages of the sailing era will be flattened in one fell swoop, and it is not known whether it will even overtake.

Therefore, Grand Duke Constantine strongly demanded the development of the steam fleet, not only for the construction of more steam ships, but also for the construction of supporting steel factories, new shipyards, and the development of research and design institutions for new ships.

In short, all this requires a lot of money.

However, everyone knows that Russia is not actually a maritime country, let alone a naval power. The Russian navy has always served land power. Although both the era of Peter the Great and the era of Catherine the Great vigorously developed the navy, the fundamental purpose of these navies is not to control the sea dominance of the ocean, but to cooperate with Russia's rolling torrent on land to attack cities and seize territories.

In other words, the navy is always subordinate to the army, which means that the military expenditure of the navy has to be ranked second, which is very limited.

These limited military expenditures will be spent more on the steam fleet, and naturally less will be spent on the sailing ship. But the sailing ship is deeply rooted in the navy, and there are a lot of related interests.

It is impossible for the commander of a sailing ship to like the commander of a steam ship to grab the already tight promotion quota, right? The old-style shipbuilding institutions are not willing to grab food from the new-style shipyards, right? Old antiques who have become high-level all the way from the sailing age don't like their traditions being subverted, do they?

All in all, those with vested interests will not willingly give up the benefits in their hands. And Menshikov, the spokesperson of these vested interests, naturally has to live up to the hopes of his supporters.

"I just checked the draft budget, why are there so many steamship projects?"

Menshikov asked with a worried face: "How can our precious funds be squandered like this!"

Grand Duke Constantine had long expected that the old eunuch would fire,

Immediately replied: "Our fleet urgently needs more steamships. This is the trend of the modern navy, and we must keep up!"

"Trend?" Menshikov sneered, and mocked: "What trend? A pile of unsatisfactory monsters spewing black smoke and carrying large water trucks is also considered a trend? These flashy garbage with many problems are not reliable at all, I don't know. I don’t want my fleet to lie down as soon as it leaves port!”

To be fair, what Menshikov said makes sense. As a new thing, a steam ship that has just been born for a few years is indeed not as reliable as a sailing ship that has been active for a thousand years. The paddle wheel is indeed fragile, the steam boiler has many problems, the fuel supply is quite cumbersome and troublesome, and the burning cinders are difficult to deal with, making the neat deck always a mess. Not to mention that serving these machines requires a large number of educated and skilled professional soldiers. For the simple Russian army, these are too cumbersome and troublesome.

But then again, what new thing is perfect at birth? It is not terrible to have many problems. It is an inevitable law of historical development to find problems and improve shortcomings. The earliest sailboats also had a lot of problems. After thousands of years of evolution and development, they became mature and reliable, right?

New things need to pay more attention to their potential. Compared with steamships, old-fashioned sailboats are thousands of miles away in speed and flexibility. One is Sunset West Mountain and the other is infinite potential. Almost half of the 19th century has passed, and if you still hold on to the sailboat, you are old and foolish.

"Steam ships do have some problems," Grand Duke Constantine replied confidently, "but these problems are not unsolvable. What is the trend? The Royal Navy is the trend!"

"Please pay attention, the Royal Navy has vigorously developed steam ships in recent years. What does this mean? It means that this new type of ship is favored by the Royal Navy... I can't imagine that we, who are backward, have any qualifications to laugh at the more advanced and powerful Royal Navy Aren't the British all idiots?"

Menshikov was a little annoyed, because he was accused of being scolded, and he couldn't fight back. After all, the strength of the British Royal Navy is there, and it can instantly kill the Russian Navy in terms of strength and historical record.

Menshikov is not arrogant enough to deny the Royal Navy, but he still has something to say: "The Royal Navy is the Royal Navy, we are us, and they should not be confused. The British are rich and powerful and can try and make mistakes at will. But our funds are limited, and good steel must be used. On the edge of a knife, you can't waste it casually. When the British succeed in trial and error, it won't be too late for us to follow up, and there is no need to rush and be taken advantage of!"