Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 479 The Development of Submarines

The signing of the Neutrality Treaty effectively slowed down Germany's and France's and Russia's attempts to win over Britain, as the British government had sufficient reason to refuse premature intervention in the confrontation between the two military blocs.

However, this is acceptable to both military blocs, since Britain and Spain have both signed a treaty on neutrality, which means that there will be no more unexpected factors in the future confrontation between the two military blocs.

The German government can focus on figuring out how to quickly defeat France or Russia, and France and Russia need not worry that Germany will become even more unstoppable with Britain's help.

Of course, this does not mean that they have completely given up on winning over Spain and Britain. They have simply shifted from overt efforts to covert ones, and from prioritizing overt efforts to prioritizing strengthening relations, in order to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Carlo breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that Britain had agreed to sign the Neutrality Treaty. Given more time to develop, even if the course of World War I were completely different from history, Spain would still be capable of bringing the war back on track.

What did they rely on? Of course, it was Spain's efforts in all aspects.

On June 12, 1910, Carlos secretly traveled to Gibraltar with a group of high-ranking naval officers to witness the commissioning of a new batch of Spanish warships.

After Spain recaptured Gibraltar, it incorporated it into the state of Andalusia and made Gibraltar the main naval base of the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet.

Unlike the battleships that have been commissioned before, what was commissioned this time was not a main warship, but Spain's latest submarine, which has been updated several times, codenamed T-6.

The reason for using the T designation for submarines is related to the naming of the Spanish submarine series, specifically the shark Tiburón.

Spain has been developing submarines for over a decade, and the main submarines currently in service with the Spanish fleet are the T-5 and T-6.

The latest T-6 submarine is an astonishing 71.52 meters long and 7.76 meters wide, with a surface displacement of 1278 tons and a submerged displacement of 1586 tons. It is currently the largest and most powerful submarine in Spain.

To ensure the submarine had excellent power, the shipyard's designers equipped it with two 800-horsepower diesel engines and two 700-horsepower electric motors, enabling the new submarine to meet the navy's speed requirements.

According to tests, the T-6 submarine has a maximum surface speed of 15 knots and a maximum underwater speed of 10 knots, which is quite excellent for a submarine.

With a maximum range of 5500 nautical miles on water (at a speed of 10 knots) and a maximum range of 1250 nautical miles underwater (at a speed of 6.5 knots), it is also at a relatively excellent level.

The T-6 submarine has a maximum diving depth of 67 meters, which also breaks the record for the Spanish submarine series.

In terms of firepower, the T-6 submarine is equipped with five 457mm torpedo tubes, giving it the ability to sink an enemy's main warship in a single strike.

In addition to these five torpedo tubes, the T-6 submarine was also equipped with a 76mm deck gun, giving it a certain combat capability on the surface.

Of course, such naval combat capability is destined to be unable to contend with enemy warships, and what it needs to deal with is not enemy warships, but enemy commercial vessels.

Because of its massive displacement of over a thousand tons, the T-6 submarine can carry a total of 15 torpedoes, with an average of three torpedoes launched from each torpedo tube, which greatly enhances the submarine's firepower.

If all 15 torpedoes are launched, the resulting damage will be at least in the tens of thousands of tons, which basically justifies the value of building this submarine.

The T-6 submarine represents the pinnacle of Spanish submarine technology and can be considered the most advanced submarine currently in existence.

Spain's needs for the T-6 submarines are quite clear: they need a mainstay ocean-going submarine with long-range strike capabilities.

It is worth mentioning that the T-5 submarine was not the predecessor of the T-6 submarine, but a different type of submarine developed at almost the same time as the T-6 submarine.

If the T-6 submarine prioritizes long-range operational capabilities, then the T-5 submarine prioritizes rapid close-range movement and defense.

The T-5 submarine is only 42 meters long and 6.03 meters wide, making it a truly small submarine.

Due to its smaller size, the T-5 submarine has a surface displacement of only 678 tons and a submerged displacement of only 942 tons, almost half that of the T-6 submarine.

Although it is no less powerful than the T-6 submarine, the T-5 submarine has a maximum sea range of only 2500 nautical miles and a maximum underwater range of only 420 nautical miles due to the limited amount of supplies and fuel it can carry.

Despite sacrificing range, the T-5 submarine achieved a significant increase in both surface and underwater speed. The T-5 submarine reached a surface speed of 18 knots and an underwater speed of 12.5 knots, far surpassing the T-6 submarine in speed.

Although its speed is excellent, the number of torpedo tubes carried by the T-5 submarine was reduced to four due to its reduced tonnage, but it was still equipped with a 76mm deck gun.

The starkly different data between the T-5 and T-6 submarines reveals that these two types of submarines will undertake completely different missions in future wars.

The T-6 submarine will conduct long-range operations and will likely participate in naval battles, causing widespread damage to enemy civilian and military vessels.

The T-5 submarine is primarily focused on coastal defense, and with its high speed, it can support every sea area of ​​Spain in a relatively short time.

With T-5 submarines defending the Spanish coastline, the risk of a Spanish landing can be greatly reduced. If the enemy dares to send transport ships to the Spanish coast, these coastal defense submarines are enough to sink the enemy transport ships and even leave the escorting warships on the shore, without even waiting for a Spanish army counterattack.

Although Spain has focused most of its attention on building its main warships in recent years, it has also invested heavily in building submarines, which it has been developing for a long time.

随着比较早期的潜艇退役，目前西班牙海军一共服役了42艘潜艇，其中有12艘潜艇为最新型的T-5潜艇， T-6潜艇有6艘，剩余24艘潜艇则是几年前的T-3和T-4潜艇。

In the coming years, Spain will continue to build more new submarines. According to the submarine construction plan submitted by the naval department, Spain will build at least 12 T-5 submarines and 8 T-6 submarines in the future, giving the Spanish Navy at least 62 submarines by 1915.

Carlo and his naval commanders watched the launching ceremony of the latest T-6 submarine in the Strait of Gibraltar. Carlo was quite satisfied with Spain's newly built large submarine.

Based on the specifications of the T-6 submarine, no other European submarine currently matches its design, making it virtually invincible underwater. Even if a naval battle were to break out with Britain at this time, Spain, with its super-dreadnoughts and state-of-the-art submarines, would have a very high chance of victory.

While the British government is also developing submarines, they have not clearly defined their research direction and are still unsure whether they want to develop ocean-going submarines or coastal defense submarines.

Even during the outbreak of world wars, Britain hoped that submarines could travel at speeds comparable to that of main warships.

But in reality, even 100 years from now, submarines will not be able to match the speed of surface warships.

This is why Spanish submarines don't overly pursue speed; firepower and range are the most important factors. The former determines the submarine's lethality against capital warships, while the latter determines its operational range. Only when these two factors reach a first-class or even top-tier level can the overall design of a submarine be considered excellent.

It is worth mentioning that, apart from Spain, the first country in Europe to develop submarines was not the United Kingdom, which had the strongest navy, but France, which had already lost its glory.

France started developing submarines very early, and before 1900, France was indeed the country with the greatest achievements in submarine technology.

However, after Spain's vigorous development of submarines, France fell behind Spain in this field. One reason was that, like Britain, the French government lacked a clear direction for submarine development.

On the other hand, the French government's investment in submarines is not high. Compared to the cost of main warships, which can easily reach millions of pounds, the cost of submarines is actually very low.

Even the most advanced T-6 submarine currently designed by Spain will not cost more than £30 per vessel.

The T-5 submarine is cheaper to build; currently, the cost of building a T-5 submarine is around £20.

As for the earlier submarines, the cost was generally between 10 and 20. The more submarines built, the lower the cost. This is actually the reason why European countries have not invested enough in submarine research and development.

The construction cost of a single submarine is very low. Although submarines are theoretically capable of sinking enemy capital ships, you can't expect every submarine to sink an enemy capital ship, can you?
Spanish submarines achieved great success in naval battles against Britain, but that was because all British warships were stationed in Malta. Spain's submarines sank several battleships due to their surprise attack.

In a direct naval battle, it is much more difficult for a submarine to sink the enemy's main warship than to launch a surprise attack.

European countries are developing submarine technology, as well as technologies to counter submarines. Instead of using submarines to launch surprise attacks on enemy capital ships on the front lines, it's more effective to rely on one's own battleships to strike the enemy warships first.

Like Spain, European countries are also building up warships to cope with the increasingly chaotic situation in Europe.

Spain and Britain built warships at an astonishing pace, and Germany was no less so.

France was also building battleships and submarines in an effort to counter Germany. Russia was also building warships, but at a slower pace.

Italy was also building warships, but at a much slower pace. Italy's industrial scale was far smaller than that of other European powers, which meant that even with its relatively excellent shipbuilding capabilities, Italy could not match the speed of its warship construction compared to other European powers.

With German support, Austria-Hungary also announced plans to build several dreadnoughts in the coming years. However, because Austria-Hungary had not built any capital warships for several years, their dreadnought construction was slower than that of the Italians. It would be at least three years before Austria-Hungary's own dreadnoughts entered service.

The naval arms race in Europe is basically involving these few countries, but the land arms race is different, involving multiple European countries, including Bulgaria, Serbia and other small and medium-sized European countries.

From mid-1910 to mid-1911, European countries significantly expanded their armies and navies. The total number of troops in the German and French armies exceeded 85, the total number of troops in the Austro-Hungarian army approached 75, and the number in Italy exceeded 55.

For a time, hundreds of thousands of troops were commonplace for European countries. Germany and France, in particular, were at the pace of their army expansion, and it was possible that they would have an army of over a million within two years.

As the only major power in Europe with a million-strong army, Russia has naturally joined the arms race in both its navy and army.

Russia's army has expanded from over one million to nearly 120 million, and plans to gradually expand to 150 million over the next three years.

Building a navy is quite difficult for Russia. It requires not only millions of pounds in funding, but also the development and support of its industrial system.

The army was not so difficult. Simply mobilize some peasants, give them rifles and uniforms, and they would be the real Russian army.

Of course, the actual situation is better; at least these Russian soldiers have undergone a period of training.

But the situation didn't improve much. Although these soldiers were trained, they were unlikely to get their hands on rifles.

Yes, Russian recruits didn't get rifles for at least a few months.

The reason is simple: Russia's domestic arms stockpile has been depleted. During the years of turmoil that followed, at least tens of thousands of rifles and a large quantity of ammunition were wasted.

These weapons and equipment were either seized by the rebels and incorporated into their army, posing a significant threat to the Russian forces.

Either they become unusable due to prolonged lack of timely maintenance, which has resulted in heavy losses for the Russian Army.

Previously, France was able to continuously supply weapons and equipment to Russia, but after France also announced a major military expansion, it reduced its equipment supply to Russia.

Russian arsenals are producing rifles and bullets in a steady stream, but the production speed is relatively slow, and the quality and stability of domestically produced rifles are inferior to those produced in France.

The good news is that the new recruits mobilized in Russia will soon receive their own rifles. The bad news is that these rifles are almost all domestically produced in Russia, so their quality is completely unreliable, and there is even a risk of them exploding.

At least they had rifles. With these new recruits equipped with rifles, they looked more like a regular army than a group of farmers.

(End of this chapter)