"Great! This is the most perfect battleship, let the big and unreasonable monarch die! This is a perfect battleship, better than my reputation! The Royal Navy should be equipped with such a battleship! With such a battleship, the Royal Navy's cruiser and battleship can be replaced!" Just when Jericho was commenting on the Mainz-class armored cruiser in the North Sea, Sir Fisher, the commander of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, was very excited because he finally found an ideal armored cruiser!

Fisher is considered an alien within the Royal Navy. He is energetic and dares to challenge the old system, full of pioneering spirit and new thinking. Such an officer will either be suppressed within the Royal Navy system or will make a career. Fortunately, Sir Fisher belongs to the latter! Now he is the commander of the most powerful squadron of the Royal Navy. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be promoted again as the leader of the Navy! This is undoubtedly an opportunity to realize his ambitions!

Fisher does not like battleships such as monarchy and dignity. He has his own ideas. "I don't think anyone in this world can challenge the battleship formation of the Royal Navy head-on, and even if the two naval powers join forces, they cannot gain a little advantage in the Imperial battleship formation! Our battleship formation is enough. What the Imperial Navy lacks is the protection of maritime transportation lines and the ability to strike the opponent's cruisers!"

"The Royal Navy will face relatively few large-scale fleet wars in the future. On the one hand, it is because the opponent's strength is insufficient, and on the other hand, it is because the battleship formations rely on ports and logistics. The only one that can build a naval military system around the world is the Royal Navy. For other countries, let alone whether their battleship formations can defeat the Royal Navy, simply sending them to the distance is a very difficult action! Because they lack the support of the base! What's the use of a fleet that cannot compete for victory in the ocean, even if it is powerful?"

"What really deserves attention from the Royal Navy are actually those cruisers. Although the Royal Navy is strong, it needs to protect the maritime transportation lines around the world. The huge fleet becomes very limited by the vast sea area! The opponent's cruisers can find loopholes, and it must be pointed out that in order to encircle an attack ship, we often have to use up to several times of the force! This time, our strength advantage is greatly weakened and even has an impact on the entire battle situation."

Fisher had a very complete theoretical system for his own views. He carefully analyzed history and keenly felt the possible risks of the Royal Navy based on the wars that have occurred in recent years. When he learned that the first generation of Mainz armored cruisers were in the Far East, he predicted that this brand new cruiser would have a profound impact on naval warfare. He even radically proposed to stop all the cruisers built by Britain now and start building brand new, enough to match Mainz’s new warships!

However, the Admiralty did not take Fisher's remarks too seriously. The old cruiser was still being built. However, in order to balance the influence of Germany's garrison in the Far East, two Centurion-class second-class battleships were deployed to the Far East. The Mediterranean Fleet where Fisher was located also obtained the subsequent model of the Centurion-class second-class battleship - the reputation-class second-class battleship. After obtaining this battleship with a speed of 20 knots, equipped with 4 10-inch guns and a large number of 6-inch guns, Sir Fisher, who was overjoyed, directly used it as his flagship!

Fisher's prophecy was fulfilled again not long after. In the US-Japan War that just ended last year, the Japanese fleet took only half a day to send the huge US-Russian combined fleet to the bottom of the Sulu Sea with four super armored cruisers ordered from Germany! This powerful existence as fast as a cruiser and even exceeds the firepower of the battleships not only shocked the Americans, but also allowed the British to see the threat that was near! Fisher once vividly explained the threat faced by the Royal Navy:

"It is powerful, it is agile, it is everywhere, and you can't catch him, and you must always beware of being bitten by the other party! This is like the feeling of an old European knight facing Mongolian cavalry! The performance advantage of a single ship has been transformed into a strategic advantage, and the Imperial Navy is not ready to deal with it!"

"And this nightmare-like existence is still expanding rapidly. The Germans have begun to build new armored cruisers, and Russia has obtained more powerful warships from Germany. I can't help but ask our navy, where are our super cruisers?"

Fisher even asked the ship designers who had been with him in private as a personal identity and proposed the idea of ​​designing a more powerful armored cruiser with reference to the German Navy's warships. The Germans installed 8 10-inch guns on the Mainz-class armored cruiser, while Fisher planned to install 12! (There are some more terrifying things in history than this plan, and they planned to install 16 234mm guns!)

This time, the performance of the German fleet in the English Channel made the British lose face, and under the stimulation of all aspects, the British finally began to decide to change. The British began to use various channels to collect relevant information and began to issue notices to major domestic shipyards and ship design bureaus.

"This time the Germans came is a good opportunity for us! We can observe this class of warships by ourselves. I am now full of expectations for the visit of the Germans. The Royal Navy's warships have lagged behind the times. When necessary, we should learn from the pioneers!" Fisher wrote in his diary.

The details of the German visit to Malta were quickly sent to Fisher via telegram. This time, it may be to show goodwill to ease the relationship between the two sides. The size of the originally small fleet of visits was further reduced. Both battleships were excluded, and only two armored cruisers came to visit. However, this did not affect Fisher's nature, because he did not catch a cold for those big guys!

"Your Highness, this time we have exposed our most elite warship to our opponents. Some design ideas and ideas cannot be hidden at all. I am worried that our technological advantages will be erased soon." In recent days, Boer, Hippel and other naval officers have told the prince more than once about their concerns.

"The performance of warships is not just external. If you only see a layout and think you understand everything about the warship, you can only say that you are too superficial." The prince smiled slightly and pointed to the main main gun of the Mainz with his finger. "This kind of similar idea has appeared very early. The idea of ​​the main firepower of warships relying on the main gun rather than the medium-caliber rapid-fire gun to burn the deck two years ago. So warships of various countries began to equip the second-level main guns. We just took one step ahead of time. The British are not fools or blinds, and they can take this step sooner or later."
Chapter completed!