Daming 1805

Chapter 422 Tonnage Limits of Naval Capital Ships

The basic premise of signing a naval treaty is that all countries disclose their shipbuilding plans to each other.

As soon as this shipbuilding plan was made public, it directly blew up the seemingly smooth negotiations.

No other country expected that the Lucians' shipbuilding plan would be so "radical".

Even if they received a reminder from France to take the initiative to avoid being labeled as militaristic, it only reduced the target of 40 tons to 32 tons.

This triggered a series of strategic changes in other countries.

Prussia and Lucia directly confronted each other, and also raised the target to 32 tons.

Then, it doesn't mean that Lucia and Prussia both have a tonnage of 32 tons of high-speed battleships, and the treaty can be signed directly.

Britain, France, and Spain are the three traditional naval powers, and their goal is to remain not weaker than the emerging emerging countries.

Either correspond to the goals of Lucia and Prussia, and also set a target tonnage of 32 tons, or ask Lucia and Prussia to reduce the target tonnage.

They would have preferred the latter.

It was the first time that Lucia was asked to reduce the tonnage, and it had some effect tentatively.

But now, after Prussia put forward the same target of 32 tons tit for tat, it is impossible for Lucia to continue to reduce the target tonnage.

There is even a tendency to return to the original goal.

Because there are other countries that match up with me, then I am no longer an isolated rafter.

Prussia wants 32 tons, and China wants 40 tons. Isn't it militaristic?
Under such a weird atmosphere, the second meeting ended hastily without reaching any consensus.

After the meeting, Talleyrand immediately went to Charles, explained the situation at the meeting, and then expressed his concerns:

"Your Highness, my subordinates are very worried now that this naval treaty may not have the effect you originally planned.

"Lucia announced the shipbuilding plan, and Prussia will fight tit-for-tat. This may make the shipbuilding competition open and intense!"

Charles' expression is also a bit ugly, but his way of thinking is not the same as Talleyrand's:
"No, the effect is definitely still there, but it won't be too idealistic.

"All countries in Thailand and the West agree to limit the tonnage of high-speed battleships to less than 16 tons, which is an ideal goal.

"It's completely normal that something unexpected happens and it can't be realized.

“At least we were able to get the Lucia target down from 40 tonnes to around 30 tonnes through the treaty.

"At the same time, it will also allow Lucia to shift her competition from us to Prussia.

"The same is true for Prussia.

"Without this naval treaty negotiation, it would be a huge pressure for us to directly build a 40-ton high-speed capital ship with Lucia's efforts.

"If we want our navy not to be weaker than Lucia's, we must also build a capital ship with a scale of 40 tons.

"It's not that we can't do it, but it will seriously affect our other plans.

"It does not make sense for France to invest such a large cost in naval vessels.

"So the next goal is to further reduce the upper limit on the basis of 32 tons."

Talleyrand thought about it again, and found that Charles's thinking was indeed correct.

Although it is not ideal, it is indeed beneficial, and it can play a certain role after all.

It can also divert the attention of emerging naval countries such as Lucia and Prussia.

But the problem is that the position of the French navy in Taixi will also shift with attention...

After hesitating for a few seconds, Talleyrand asked again:

"Your Highness, should we adjust our goal? Still maintain the balance of power against Lucia and Prussia, or allow Lucia and Prussia to surpass our treaty tonnage?"

Charles was a little worried after hearing this question, but he didn't hesitate:
"The overall direction remains unchanged, setting and limiting the maximum tonnage of a single country, and we want to achieve this tonnage.

"16 tons is estimated to be impossible, let's relax to 24 tons..."

Talleyrand was also frowning after hearing this.

24 tons, compared with 16 tons, has increased a lot, but compared with 32 tons, there is still a big gap.

Talleyrand had already imagined how the Lucians would react.

"You can't make so many, why don't you have to make as many as you?"

Of course, France can build a 32-ton high-speed capital ship, but the pressure it bears is much greater than that of Lucia.

According to the common saying of Daming, this is the state of being a bit swollen and fat.

When Talleyrand was about to leave with a sad face, Charles finally reminded:
"The key target now is Lucia, and Prussia, Austria, Italy and other countries should be available.

"We can unite with Britain, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Italy and other countries to jointly put pressure on Lucia.

"Lucia shouldn't put herself on the opposite side of Europa.

"Under the current situation, including Lucia, the demand for navies of the Thai and Western countries is actually not very high.

"The essential purpose of Lucia and Prussia should be to obtain sufficient status through naval treaties.

"Their actual bottom line should be to maintain a balance with us.

"So through joint pressure and jointly asking Lucia to lower the standard, it should be achievable."

Talleyrand himself is a diplomat. Hearing Charles' reminder, he immediately reacted:
"That is to say, diplomatic means can be used to create a situation where Lucia has to compromise...

"Avoid unnecessary naval races by eliminating plans to build ships beyond what is actually needed.

"This is the goal His Highness proposed to sign the naval treaty..."

Charles nodded slightly with a serious expression:
"That's right, but I just pointed out a direction. How to achieve it depends on the diplomatic skills of Your Excellency Talleyrand."

Talleyrand said, bowing his hands:
"Subordinates must do their best..."

Charles watched Talleyrand leave the office, and then wrote a telegram to Zhu Jingyuan.

"It seems that it is a very wise choice for Ming Dynasty not to participate in the signing of Europa's naval treaty...

"I, the client, don't even want to do these shitty things, let alone Daming who is irrelevant..."

From this day on, the negotiations related to the naval treaty have directly entered the in-depth stage.

Regarding the upper tonnage limit of the high-speed capital ships of the navies of various countries, it is pulled back and forth between 20 tons and 40 tons.

The naval treaties between the Thai and Western countries in this world look completely different from the naval treaties of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

In the original naval treaty, the United States wanted to obtain the corresponding status with the United Kingdom, and Japan wanted to obtain the corresponding status.

Britain wants to keep its status. Although France and Italy participated, they basically just eat melons.

As for the Lucians and Germans who did not participate, they are even more pure melons.

The key lies in the negotiation between Britain, the United States and Japan.

Now the world's naval treaties, all the major countries in the western and western continents are key participants, and only the real small border countries like the Netherlands are here to eat melons and watch the show.

Lucia wants to gain a leading position, Prussia wants to achieve a position not inferior to any other country, and traditional countries such as France, Britain, and Spain all want to maintain a balance.

But after an in-depth analysis, it can be found that, in essence, it is similar to the naval treaty of another world.

Both emerging industrial countries are challenged by traditional naval powers.

Both are naval states that suffered heavy losses in the Great War trying to maintain their position and not lag behind.

Although the traditional country headed by France has diplomatic means of joint pressure.

But in terms of actual negotiations, Lucia, who has less pressure to build ships, obviously has more advantages.

You can put pressure on me, but I can ignore it.

In particular, after excluding the Minghua elements and the purified Lucia elements, Lucia is very tough in diplomacy.

In the end, after half a month of torturous negotiations, the major countries in Thailand and the West finally achieved a compromise plan that all parties could barely accept.

The total tonnage of capital ships of the navies of all countries in Thailand and the West shall not exceed 32 tons.

This number is still Lucia's bottom line number, but the connotation has changed.

Lucia's original goal was to reserve the tonnage of 32 tons for cutting-edge high-speed battleships.

It was eventually revised to include all types of capital ships, including traditional capital ships and armored cruisers.

And this tonnage share can be used to build cruisers.

European and American countries may still have a certain number of traditional battleships and armored cruisers.

Traditional naval states such as Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal have a large number of self-built old-fashioned warships.

Lucia, Prussia and other countries have a batch of obsolete warships imported from Ming Dynasty after the war.

These warships, in the eyes of current admirals and designers, are completely outdated.

However, it can be converted into a dreadnought-style new battleship model and continue to be used as a secondary battleship.

Compared with countries that import warships such as Lucia and Prussia, the number of traditional battleships in traditional naval countries such as Britain, France, and Spain is even larger.

In other words, the modified 32 tons allows Lucia to eliminate all the imported old battleships and use them all to build cutting-edge high-speed battleships.

It is also possible to allow Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands to continue to retain a number of traditional capital ships to fill the tonnage.

In terms of external statements and publicity, it can be claimed that there are capital ships of 32 tons.

It is a plan proposed by the British to be able to build cruisers with the tonnage of capital ships.

The actual goal of the British was to build an aircraft carrier, and the French had similar ideas after hearing the proposal.

This is to allow aircraft carriers and fast battleships to share tonnage.

At the same time, none of the ships had a full load displacement of more than [-] metric tons.

This is the main concession for Lucia.

After Lucia received Niu Jian's warning, she didn't dare to build a [-]-ton battleship, and she didn't have the ability to do it for the time being.

However, it is still a challenge to continue to enlarge to [-] tons.

Now under joint pressure from other countries in Thailand and West, I finally chose to give up.

The tonnage limit was prepared by all countries from the beginning.

There is nothing wrong with the method of restriction.

Directly use the full-load displacement that the Navy is used to, without discussing the establishment of a "treaty standard displacement".

Zhu Jingyuan's naval treaty in his previous life was signed by the five navies of the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy. The voyage ranges of their capital ships are very different.

Italian battleships basically only operate in the Mediterranean Sea, and as long as they have a range of six to seven thousand kilometers, they are completely sufficient.

The British need global deployment, and the Americans need to mobilize across the oceans, and they can't wait to pile up the voyage to [-] kilometers.

The American Iowa-class battleship has a maximum oil storage capacity of nearly [-] tons.

The Italian Veneto-class battleship has a maximum oil storage capacity of only [-] tons.

The pure fuel tonnage difference between the two sides is four to five thousand tons.

The weight of four to five thousand tons is enough to increase the caliber of the naval gun from 381mm to 406mm.

This is a big difference in battleship design.

If the tonnage of treaty ships is limited according to the maximum displacement, the armed forces of Italian battleships of the same tonnage will be higher than those of the Americans by a large level.

Therefore, the naval treaties in history specially formulated the "treaty standard displacement" that does not include the amount of fuel, as the tonnage standard of the naval vessels of the countries that signed the treaty.

Due to the great influence of the naval treaty and the five navies on later generations, this standard displacement, which was originally specially formulated for the treaty, gradually replaced the customary full-load displacement and became the main standard for later generations to compare the tonnage of ships.

But in this world, the scope of activities of their naval vessels is highly consistent among the major Western and Western countries.

All from the North Atlantic to the west coast of Mexico.

The Western countries all have colonies on the west coast of Mexico, including Italy, Audley, Ottoman and Lucia.

Although the British are going to Tianzhu, there are supply points everywhere on the route, and Tianzhu is almost abandoned.

Countries will not have huge differences in fuel reserve design due to different voyage requirements.

If Da Ming participates, maybe a similar standard will be designed because of Da Ming's long-range needs, but there is no such rigid demand at present.

Therefore, the very typical data of the so-called "standard displacement" does not exist in this world.

Finally, all the tonnage data are all in metric tons, that is, one thousand kilograms.

Instead of the imperial long ton of the Navy Treaty of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, that is, 240 pounds.

In the naval treaty of the previous life, the main core participating countries were the United Kingdom and the United States. Both countries adopted the British system at that time, so it is natural to use the British system to sign the contract.

There is no United States in this world, coupled with Ming's vigorous promotion, Britain in this world does not use the British system anymore.

The countries that signed the treaty all use the metric system, so naturally there is no such data as the length and short tons of the imperial system.

However, compared with the naval treaty of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, the biggest difference between this naval treaty is the share division strategy.

All signatories share the same standards, rather than each country dividing a certain percentage of shares.

Because the power of the main countries in Thailand and West is too balanced compared to the other world.

Britain, France, Spain, Prussia, Lucia, and Austria are not much different, and Italy and Ottomans are slightly weaker.

Although Portugal has obviously declined, it is still a naval power in name and can still gain basic respect.

It is impossible for the Netherlands, Denmark and other obvious and truly weak countries to complete the construction of the corresponding share, and there is no need to specifically limit the size and tonnage of their navies.

Therefore, the contracting countries finally adopted the most "fair" restriction plan.

(End of this chapter)