Chapter 25: The Top Navy of the Nineteenth Century
One day in March 1902, a visiting team led by Joseph, dominated by David and followed by Liu Yifei finally arrived at the military port of Portsmouth on the south coast of England.
Portsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of England, bordering the Solent Strait and facing the Isle of Wight across the strait. Since the establishment of the Royal Navy's shipyard in the 15th century, it has been an important naval base for the British Royal Navy. This is also the birthplace of a very familiar figure, Charles Dickens, the great English writer. Another fictional character that everyone knows is the famous "Sherlock Holmes", who is said to be from Portsmouth as well.
On the day of the visit, a group led by a staff officer from the Navy Department arrived at the dock. The military port of Portsmouth was built in a bay, with White Island opposite forming a natural gateway that blocked wind and waves as well as enemies. On this several-mile-long dock, more than a dozen warships of various tonnages of the British Royal Navy were berthed.
The first ship to visit was the latest British-made "Dreadnought" class of first-class battleships, the first "Dreadnought". This new British-designed first-class battleship looks a bit like a large sailing ship from the outside, with two tall masts standing high in the middle of the ship, a straight bow and a round stern, as well as two thick smokestacks, which is completely different from Liu's impression of modern warships.
"The Fearless" had a displacement of over 14,000 tons, with more than 200mm thick side armor plating. It was equipped with vertical triple-expansion engines and could reach speeds of up to 18 knots. The main armament consisted of twin 305mm/40 caliber guns mounted fore and aft along the centerline, supplemented by several 152mm and 76mm secondary guns on either side. Overall, it was larger and more powerful than the American Indiana-class battleships. According to a British naval staff officer accompanying the ship, "Fearless" was just the first of its class, with further construction underway, although the exact number of ships being built was not disclosed.
Next, the group also visited an elderly star-class battleship and 2 majestic-class battleships. The appearance of these two types of battleships is basically similar to the first "Fearless" visited, but the Majestic class is the previous generation of the Fearless class, with differences in the turret and stern. The old star-class is a reduced version of the Majestic class, which reduces armor and replaces it with water tube boilers, providing higher efficiency and economy, making the old star-class battleship consume only 10 tons of coal per hour when sailing at its highest speed. This design was mainly to meet the security needs of colonies far overseas, where higher navigability and cruising range were more suitable than higher armored defensive capabilities in the absence of sufficient coaling replenishment points.
For battleships, Liu didn't have much to say because he didn't understand them at all and only roughly understood the technical data of the most powerful and advanced British naval warships at that time, in order to set a standard for the future development of the Taiwanese Navy. Therefore, during the visit, Liu was not very interested in the main guns, secondary guns, armor, etc., but asked more detailed questions about the power part, torpedo launch tubes and torpedo parameters, and how the warship communicated with each other. For some things that he didn't dare to ask himself, he let David take the lead.
After lunch, they strolled around the Portsmouth dockyard again and looked at another Dreadnought battleship under construction. Then David and his party bid farewell to the accompanying naval officers and took a carriage back to Joseph's estate.
For this visit to the UK and US, Liu's gains were still relatively large. Firstly, he figured out the most advanced shipbuilding technology of this era, now, the tonnage of large ships in various countries is around 15,000 tons, using coal-fired boilers as the main power drive, with a general speed of less than 18 knots and limited endurance; secondly, he grasped the parameters of the latest battleships of this era, such as an armor thickness of about 200 mm, communication methods mainly using flag signals during the day and light at night; thirdly, he basically figured out the development of submarines in this era, that is, various countries did not pay much attention to submarines, and even less so for anti-submarine warfare, with several experimental submarines from the UK and US still in the testing phase and not being used as a weapon.
After resting for a few more days at Joseph's estate, David took Liu Fei across the strait and arrived in Paris. Although Britain and France are geographically close, there is a huge difference in customs between the two countries, from cities to countryside, ordinary people to high society. The French look down on the British, whether it's deep-seated or superficial, especially when it comes to clothing and food. If you discuss British cuisine with a French person, they will spit in your face, considering it an insult. To be honest, the British don't have much to brag about when it comes to food, except for fries and fish sticks. No wonder there are many fat people in Britain; these two foods are basically standard junk food by modern standards. Especially that mashed potato dish cooked with sheep oil - aside from being barely swallowable when hot, once it cools down, you can imagine the muddy potatoes mixed with sheep oil... all stuck in your throat, how can you swallow?
Although the French dislike the British, they do not dislike very magical medicines and refrigerators. So David's face is also useful here, but not in the navy, but in the army. A French general, with a proud chest and a ridiculous mustache, invited David and Liu to visit a French cavalry regiment near Paris, which was said to be France's most proud light cavalry regiment, with countless honors that could not be counted. However, Liu did not know any of them. What Liu knew best was that if 10 heavy machine guns were placed on top, the more than 1,000 people and horses in this regiment would all lie down in front of the position within half an hour. What honor, what pride, made no difference to bullets. Killing a nobleman or killing a beggar made no difference at all. After seeing the French army, Liu had no desire to visit the French navy again. With such an army and navy, it was not strong enough to go anywhere. Rather than attending various cocktail parties here every day, it was better to go directly to Germany.
The history of Germany as a nation-state dates back to 1871 when the German Empire was proclaimed after the victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War. The new state was a result of the unification efforts by Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, who had defeated Denmark, Austria and France in three successive wars. After unification, Germany experienced rapid economic growth and became the second-largest economy in Europe within 40 years. Between 1850 and 1900, Germany's GDP increased from 10.5 billion marks to 36.5 billion marks, with industrial production increasing sixfold and surpassing agricultural production, making Germany an industrial nation. The UK took nearly 100 years to complete its Industrial Revolution, while Germany achieved this in less than 50 years.
The rapid development of industrialization increased Germany's foreign trade by 200%. When Germany began to become a first-rate power, its gaze naturally shifted from land to sea. Since 1888, when the 29-year-old Wilhelm II ascended to the throne, his proud and impulsive personality clashed with Bismarck's policy of restraint and caution.
Wilhelm II hoped to make Germany a great imperial power like his grandmother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Amidst calls for "a place in the sun", nationalist sentiment was at an all-time high and the desire for a fleet that could match Germany's status as a major world power became overwhelming.
In 1900, Tirpitz, then German Secretary of State for the Navy, submitted a completely new naval expansion bill two years later, with explosive content: 38 battleships and 58 cruisers. If this plan is completed, the German Navy will be the second largest navy in the world, enough to defeat France and Russia, while the core of the plan points directly at Britain.
Actually, Liu Mo really likes the character of Germans: working hard with their heads down and then looking up. However, he who knows history well has no illusions about the future of Germans. Among the crowd that bullied the Qing Dynasty, you can always find the shadow of Germans, sometimes they are more active and more aggressive than those old colonial powers.
With a "look at you one more time before you die early" mentality, Liu Ye set foot in Kiel, Germany's important military port and shipbuilding base.
Kiel is a city in the north of Germany, facing the Baltic Sea's Kiel Bay and the eastern terminus of the Kiel Canal. As a port city, Kiel has been an important naval base and shipbuilding center since the 19th century, with many important German warships having been built there.
There are only a few old cruisers docked in the military port, but in the dry dock, a battleship is being fitted out. According to the accompanying naval personnel, this is a Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleship named "Kaiser Karl der Grosse".
The ship was 125 meters long, with a draft of 8.07 meters and a standard displacement of over 11,000 tons. It used water-tube boilers and piston steam engines, triple-expansion propulsion, and had a speed of 17 knots. The ship was equipped with four 240mm main guns, eighteen 150mm secondary guns, twelve 88mm secondary guns, and numerous machine guns, with armor up to 300mm thick.
As for why the main gun caliber is so small, the accompanying German naval personnel explained that it was because they referred to the Sino-Japanese War between the Beiyang Fleet and the Japanese Navy, and then reduced the main gun caliber to reduce weight and equip more quick-firing secondary guns.
After listening to this theory, even Liu Ye, who didn't understand much about the navy, felt that it was somewhat unbelievable. The contest between the Beiyang Fleet and the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Yellow Sea was not so much a defeat due to equipment, but rather a defeat due to the system. At that time, the two major naval battles were actually not well-prepared by the Beiyang Fleet, which was not defeated, but rather it was the poor logistics preparation, chaotic command system and corrupt imperial court that truly defeated them, having little to do with the Japanese fleet.
The Germans, far away in Europe, actually changed their battleship design because of this sea battle, abandoning the choice of large-caliber main guns and opting for more medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, planning to learn from the Japanese and use countless small shells to confront the British.
After seeing the poor short-sightedness of the Germans in the navy, Liu Ye couldn't muster up interest to visit other military ports and hastily returned to London with David and a few others, buying tickets for a ship several days later to return to Taiwan.
This time, the hurry was not entirely because the old earl was eager to see his grandson, but rather a telegram had been sent from Taiwan saying that in the more than a year since Liu Fei went out, the Taiwanese government and research institutions had squeezed many things that needed to be decided by Liu Fei. Seeing that Liu Fei had not returned to Taiwan for a long time, Liu Gui sent a telegram urging Liu Fei to return home as soon as possible.
In September 1902, Liu Yazi and his party sailed through the Suez Canal, passed through the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca, changed to a disguised ship of the Taiwan Department of Internal Affairs in Hong Kong, and returned to Keelung Port.
