Another World: Naval Storm

Taron Kingdom, 10 Downing Street.

"Damn it, the Drakes' warships are designed exactly like ours!" Navy Minister Bartlett was comparing several photos in front of him, and he said indignantly. "Did someone leak the kingdom's secrets?"

"Who are you accusing? Are the important ministers present here the ones who have seen the drawings of the kingdom's latest dreadnought? Do you want to say that there are Drake spies among us?" Prime Minister Balfour will not tolerate Bartlett.

"Sorry, I said something wrong!" Bartlett stood up and bowed to apologize to those seated.

"According to the intelligence department's speculation, the Drakes had secretly started building dreadnoughts as early as 1902. This should be a coincidence. The Drakes' future warship development direction coincides with ours." The head of MI reported to the bigwigs.

"Tell us what you think, don't be silent like quails!" Belfort asked for everyone's opinions.

"The Drake Empire is provoking us. We should respond as soon as possible!" said Chamberlain, the Minister of Colonial Affairs of Talen.

"What's your reaction? Start a war before their fleet is fully upgraded?" Bartlett immediately agreed, "I will immediately order the Admiralty to formulate a battle plan!"

Chamberlain looked at Bartlett as if he were an idiot. "I'm talking about measures other than the use of force!"

"The Drake Empire Navy is like a sharp dagger on the kingdom's neck. The later it is, the sharper it will be. The right choice is to break it first!" Bartley still insisted on declaring war on the Drake Empire.

"It's easy to start a war, but hard to end it! If we rush over and destroy the port, and the Drakes ambush us with torpedoes, mines, and coastal defense guns to consume us, and finally send our main fleet for a decisive battle, are we sure we can win the war?" Foreign Secretary Lansdowne was a little worried.

"The Royal Navy is invincible!" Bartlett shouted the naval slogan at the Prime Minister's residence.

"You have to understand that the Drake Empire is a land power. Even if the navy is gone, can your battleships go ashore?" Chamberlain bombarded Bartlett continuously. "The kingdom now only has 24 land forces. How many ships do you need to send them ashore?"

"If you send them ashore and face a million-strong Drakk army, do you have a chance of winning?" The Kingdom of Tarun has always been a maritime power, but its army is not particularly strong.

"We can directly blockade all of Drake's ports and force the Drake Empire to surrender!"

"Well, this is a good idea. But at this stage the kingdom will not go to war directly. If the kingdom starts a war first, what do you think other countries in Onebaroa will think? We have to be the arbitrators of Onebaroa and cannot get involved easily." Belfort ruled out the use of force.

"Then let's see who has the stronger industrial strength. I believe that with the strength of the Kingdom, we will catch up soon!" Minister of Industrial Development Attlee interrupted. "If Drake builds one, we will build two!"

"Building a dreadnought will cost a lot of gold pounds, and the defense budget will have to increase significantly." Finance Minister George continued, "We have too many old battleships. If we eliminate them all, the loss will be too great!"

"Then retire some, renovate some, and sell some!" In order to maintain the Royal Navy's advantage, Balfour decided to build a large number of ships.

"There's actually no need to worry so much!" said Johnson, the Minister of Navy Equipment Technology, who was sitting at the edge.

"Please look at this, everyone. Can you see any problem?" Johnson held up the photo of the dreadnought and asked everyone to look at it carefully.

The others shook their heads, but Bartlet's eyes lit up. "Are you saying that the Drakes' naval guns are not good enough?"

"Of course, our dreadnoughts are equipped with 12-inch naval guns with an effective firing range of meters and a firing rate of one round per minute; the Drakes' naval guns are only 1 mm. Because the Drakes are more advanced in chemistry, the charge and composition of the shells are unknown, and the range is difficult to judge. At most, it is similar to ours." Johnson is in charge of equipment research and development and has a rich knowledge reserve.

"Our next generation 13.5-inch naval guns have been developed, so we are better than the Drakes in terms of naval guns!" As the Secretary of the Navy, Bartlett knows the development progress of many equipment.

"Moreover, the Drakes' ship power system is likely to still be using reciprocating steam engines; our ship power system is a steam turbine, which is much more advanced than theirs!" This is the foundation of the first country to complete industrialization.

"That's good!" The two's analysis finally calmed the others down. They had been under too much pressure these days.

What they didn't know was that the next generation of Drake Empire's dreadnoughts would use high-power steam turbines designed and developed by Dr. Nicholas San Jose. In terms of power systems, the Drakes had already caught up.

Whoever owns the ocean and controls the waterway will own the future of the empire. The old colonial country of Tarun naturally understands this truth.

The Kingdom of Tarun has too many battleships, and old warships are still an important part of the kingdom. Most of the outdated old warships are not retired all at once. Some old ships are definitely retired and dismantled for scrap metal, but many newer warships can still be upgraded and continue to serve, used for escort, training, or simply pulled to the sea as target ships.

If it really doesn't work, other countries can also buy it and continue to serve. For example, some small countries are happy to accept it if the price is low.

If the Kingdom of Tarun really carries out the replacement on a one-to-one basis, I am afraid that by the time they complete this plan, their navy will be able to dominate the world.

****

Drak Empire, Imperial Parliament.

"The Taren naval forces are scattered all over the world. As long as the Empire assembles a powerful battle fleet in the North Sea, it will be able to form a balance of power with the Taren Kingdom and seriously undermine the Taren Kingdom's maritime hegemony. If the Taren Kingdom regards the Imperial fleet as a major threat, it will definitely avoid conflict with us. Then the Empire can force the Taren Kingdom to make concessions and prevent the Taren Kingdom from forming an alliance with Fran and Rakshasa." Piltz was making an impassioned speech for the Navy Amendment Bill.

"Why should we compete with the Kingdom of Taren?" a congressman asked Piltz, and the other congressmen frowned when they heard this.

"Because the Drake Empire cannot beg for food. Our ancestors worked hard to make the empire stand tall in the world. Do we want to let our ancestors look down on us?" Piltz raised his voice and asked, "Excessive tolerance cannot guarantee the empire's overseas interests. This has been proven by history. Doesn't the empire even have the courage to fight hard?"

Hundreds of congressmen stood up with red faces, "Passed! Passed!"

"Let the world see our strength!" Soon the world saw the strength of the Drake Empire.