Twenty-two, different armored ships

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  "Alfred, why do you have such a crazy idea?" Tirpitz, sporting a large beard, looked up from the design explanation for the cessation of construction of the Deutschland-class battleships and the revised designs for armored ships S and N, which Dietrich had handed to him personally. "Is it just because these untested designs are on the table?" he asked, pointing at the bundles of papers on his desk.

  "Yes, theoretically, this should be a revolutionary design, with novel applications of armament, protection and propulsion systems. I have carefully calculated the data for this type of armored cruiser, and it surpasses the already designed Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers in firepower, protection and mobility, even outperforming the under-construction Deutschland-class battleships."

  Tirpitz flipped through the drawings, and the data provided in the design specification of the Vulkan shipyard was indeed tempting, but some places made him feel dissatisfied: "Building two gun turrets at the front and rear of the deck to raise the gun tower? The reliability of this arrangement has never been tested, and what impact will it have on the overall center of gravity and stability of navigation? Why choose to use a steam turbine, that thing has only been experimented on in destroyers, although the effect is good, but there is no precedent for equipping large warships. And, surprisingly, the ram bow was cancelled, how ridiculous!"

  "General, due to the development of artillery technology, both sides' combat distances are already over 7,000 yards. I don't think it's inappropriate to cancel the ramming angle. This thing will hinder the overall armor protection strength of the warship, and in naval battles, the probability of colliding with one's own people seems to be far greater than hitting enemy ships." Dietrich said in a low voice, Tirpitz's stubbornness and conservatism made him very angry, "If not equipped with steam turbines, warships will not be able to reach the design requirement of 25 knots. As for the defects of steam engines, I think you are also very clear. Why does the German Navy always have to follow in the footsteps of the British, unable to be the first to equip large warships with steam turbines?"

  "Our budget is limited, can you guarantee that this battleship will not become an expensive white elephant? The Naval Estimates have only just been passed by the Reichstag and we cannot jeopardize the construction of our battle fleet for some fancy new toy. I refuse to sanction any alteration in the estimates." Tirpitz handed the report back to Dietrich.

  Tirpitz was not a leader with an innovative spirit, he had always been opposed to the application of new technologies and remained stuck in the old era of fleet battles. "In that case I'll just have to hand this plan over to the Emperor and let him decide!" With that, he stood up and took his leave.

  "Why are you going to see that self-important, interfering busybody who likes to lecture the Navy? Even if that incompetent designer agreed to this foolish plan, I would not carry it out!" Tirpitz thundered, pounding his fist on the table.

  Dietrich first found Prince Heinrich, who had just returned from the United States, and carefully explained to him the design idea of the new battleship. Through the prince, he submitted the design description of the new warship to the German Emperor. Prince Heinrich was recently promoted to Admiral of the High Seas Fleet, although he did not agree with Tirpitz's plan to challenge Britain's naval power, but showed enough interest in the new battleship design provided by Vulkan Shipyard.

  As a naval commander, the firepower configuration of the new warship was enough to ignite his passion.

  Heinrich agreed to present the new battleship design to the Kaiser as soon as possible and persuade Wilhelm II to accept it.

  At the same time, Tirpitz ordered the third vessel of the Deutschland class, Hannover, to be laid down at the Royal Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, much to the dismay of both Dietrich and Prince Heinrich.

  The new battleship design plans were finally submitted to the Kaiser's hands, which made William II, an amateur warship design enthusiast, feel very pleased. This was the first time that the Navy Design Department had submitted a warship design plan for review and decision by the wise Emperor. Before this, they always ridiculed the Emperor's proposed designs, although they were perfect in every other way, but with one fatal flaw - they couldn't float on water, which made William II feel very hurt.

  His Imperial Majesty was very interested in the proposal from Vickers, as the design of this warship suited his taste and seemed to meet his previous requirement for a "fast battleship".

  For this purpose, he even summoned Dietrich and the designer of the warship Striecher, listened carefully to the design instructions made by the two warship designers, and finally decided to support the construction of new warships and increase the original standard displacement design to 15,000 tons. "This is the ideal battleship I mentioned, not because of my mistake, but because of the stupidity of the Navy Design Bureau, which cannot design such an excellent warship!" The emperor first praised his own foresight, then patted the two designers on the shoulder and said: "In order to commend your great contributions to the Imperial Navy, at the launching ceremony of the new battleship, I will personally award you a medal!"

  Although the Kaiser was pushing hard for the construction of new battleships, this met with strong resistance from the Naval Office led by Tirpitz, who even threatened to resign as Minister. Without the support of the Naval Office, it would be difficult for the revised budget to pass through parliament.

  William II remained unyielding, ordering a halt to all new construction projects for the German Navy. You disagree with my plan? I won't let you start building new warships then; we'll see who can outlast whom! In the end, Tirpitz had to yield to the Emperor's pressure and could only convene the naval design department and ship commanders to discuss the feasibility of building new warships.

  The Naval Department finally agreed to redesign the four battleships, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Elsass and Hessen, according to a new construction plan. At the Kaiser's request, the redesigned Scharnhorst-class armored ships had a standard displacement of 16,500 tons, were equipped with eight 40-caliber 254mm main guns, twin turrets mounted on the fore and aft decks, ten single-mounted 152mm secondary guns in the middle, powered by 26 new water tube coal-fired boilers, four 23,000 horsepower triple-expansion steam engines, quadruple screws, designed top speed of 24 knots.

  Four armored cruisers were laid down almost simultaneously with the British Dreadnought, but whereas the British completed their ship in just over a year, the Germans proceeded more cautiously with new technology and the construction of the Scharnhorst-class ships was repeatedly delayed. The first vessel, Elsass, was not delivered to the German Navy until March 1908; by that time, the British had already completed five dreadnoughts, so it did not cause much excitement.

  The ships of the Scharnhorst class were initially referred to as fast battleships, but by the time they were delivered to the Navy, the displacement of British dreadnoughts had already exceeded 23,000 tons. The Germans then redesignated them armored cruisers, although these armored vessels had firepower and protection levels far superior to those of the contemporary British Warrior and Minotaur classes of armored cruisers.

  Later naval historians also pointed out that the strong advocacy for the construction of the Scharnhorst class armoured cruisers was one of the few correct decisions made by the Kaiser in his interference with German naval affairs.

  The Vulkan shipyard received the contract for two of the ships, but the orders from East Asia they had hoped for never materialized. In 1907, could China have afforded to purchase a battleship like Scharnhorst with a standard displacement of over 16,000 tons?

  Although Rozhdestvensky's Second Pacific Squadron had received intelligence from Russian consuls about Japanese naval dispositions, warning him of an ambush in the Tsushima Strait and along the route to Vladivostok, he had no choice but to steam forward. The 18,000-mile voyage had apparently driven this favourite of Nicholas II to distraction, and Admiral Rozhdestvensky led his fleet into the Japanese trap with a steady nerve.

  End this damn voyage at sea already! Whether I live or die.

  The outcome of the Battle of Tsushima and another world's history are not much different. The poor condition of the Russian Navy and the level of training of its sailors made it perform worse than the Qing Navy that participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea more than a decade ago. Although the attack on the combined Japanese fleet was somewhat prepared, the Russians still failed to sink even one of Japan's main naval vessels during the battle, with the final result being almost complete annihilation.

  Unlike the rest of the world's history, the Russian main fleet flagship Suvorov was severely damaged and Rozhdestvensky wounded, escaped on a destroyer. Under these circumstances, Captain Bukhvostov of Alexander III raised the signal flag "Follow me" and led the main fleet to retreat southwest.

  Borodino, Emerald and three armed merchant ships, two destroyers successfully escaped to Shanghai, while Oleg, Aurora and Pearl of the First Cruiser Squadron fled to Manila. Two days later, the heavily damaged Navarin arrived in Shanghai with a destroyer.

  The Russian Second Pacific Squadron, which had thirty-eight battleships, finally only managed to escape with the Diamond Cruiser and two destroyers to Vladivostok.

  Things have come to this, and the war can't be fought anymore. The Japanese were also exhausted by the war, unable to launch an offensive again, while Russian Tsar Nicholas II was being manipulated by a domestic revolution instigated by Japanese spy Akashi Motojiro.

  Now both sides have finally agreed to sit down and talk things over thoroughly.

  Nikolai's conditions were: one, no compensation; two, no cession of territory.

  On September 15, 1905, Japan and Russia signed the Treaty of Portsmouth at a US naval base under American mediation. The main points of the treaty were:1. Recognition of Japan's special interests in Korea.2. Russian withdrawal from Manchuria.3. Russia ceded to Japan its leasehold rights on the Liaodong Peninsula after obtaining China's consent.4. Russia ceded to Japan its railway rights and privileges in southern Manchuria from Changchun to Lushunkou without compensation after obtaining China's consent.5. The island of Sakhalin was divided, with the area south of 50° N latitude being ceded to Japan.

  The Russians mainly transferred their interests in Southern Manchuria to Japan, but the Japanese did not get the war indemnity they had dreamed of. The Japanese economy remained stagnant due to the drag of the Russo-Japanese War until just before the outbreak of World War I.

  Instead, it was the more than ten Russian warships that fled to Shanghai and made Lin Shou earn a small fortune. In total, the Hudong Shipyard earned more than 3.6 million silver dollars from the Russians just for repair costs.