Of course, the British propaganda of the USS Defence battleship was not entirely intended to divert the public's attention, because the USS Defence battleship was not only the largest battleship built in this era, but also an epoch-making battleship. Therefore, its service was indeed a major revolutionary change in the history of naval development.

Compared with the battleships before the Fearless battleship, there are at least three major technological breakthroughs. First, the full-heavy firepower design. The Fearless battleship has arranged 5 dual-mounted 305mm main guns, and when firing on the side, 8 main guns can be concentrated to fire at the same time, which is twice the firepower of any other type of battleship. Secondly, a unified fire control command system is adopted. Each turret no longer aims and fires separately, but is uniformly commanded by the central fire control system on the ship, and a barrage strike is formed, which can greatly increase the hit rate of the artillery; and in the power system, the steam turbine replaces the reciprocating steam engine, which not only can obtain greater power, but also greatly improves the reliability and stability, so that the maximum speed of the Fearless battleship can reach 21 knots and can be maintained for more than 10 hours.

All these changes have made the emergence of the USS Defence battleship a watershed in the construction technology of battleships and the ancestor of modern battleships. All battleships built in the past have been outdated overnight, creating a new era of giant ships and cannons in the history of naval academics, and determined the basic model of the design of battleships in the world's naval powers in the next nearly 40 years. Therefore, the battleships built by various countries have been called dreadnoughts.

However, the appearance of the USS Fearless battleship is a mixture of emotions, some envy, some shock, and some regrets. It turns out that in recent years, the military cooperation between East China and Germany has been very close with the German navy. East China has customized 2 protective cruisers, 2 armored cruisers, and 1 battleship in Germany. Germany also dispatched technicians to guide East China to build warships on its own.

The East China ** provides Germany with a series of warship designs. First, the Samoa-class protective cruiser designed based on the Qingzhou-class protective cruiser. Germany has built 4 ships, and its performance has been widely praised in the German Navy. Then, Germany adopted the East China ** Chitu-class armored cruiser design and built two Lun-class armored cruisers. After the navy's trial, it also received rave reviews, believing that both performance and combat effectiveness are far better than the four armored cruisers built by Germany.

In terms of battleships, East China ** helped Germany modify the design of the Brunswick-class battleship, which introduced the concept of a second-class main gun, and Germany soon saw the same design on the Edward VII-class battleship that had just been launched by Britain at that time. Because Britain was the leader in naval technology in this era, the battleship designs of various countries basically followed the United Kingdom. It turned out that Tirpitz adopted the modification plan of East China **, and there was some point of giving it a try. Seeing that the design plan of East China ** is exactly the same as that of Britain, Tirpitz finally believed in the design capabilities of East China **, so he entrusted East China ** to design a new generation of German-class battleships for Germany.

At this time, East China ** customized the Ganjiang-class battleship in Germany and applied the Ganjiang-class battleship design concept, including full-heavy artillery and central unified fire control system, to the design of the German-class battleship. However, the main gun caliber of the German-class battleship was 305 mm, and the tonnage reached about 17,000 tons. It can be regarded as an enlarged version of the Ganjiang-class battleship. At this time, the steam turbine jointly developed by East China ** and Germany was not yet mature, so in terms of power selection, a three-rise reciprocating steam engine was still used. However, due to the excellent hull design of East China **, it can still ensure that the maximum speed reaches more than 20 knots, and the USS Defenceless battleship has not started construction at this time.

However, because the design concept of the German-class battleship is too advanced, it has also caused considerable controversy within Germany. A considerable number of senior German navy leaders believe that the design of the German-class battleship is flashy and the design of the full-heavy artillery is just a pile of firepower, the hit rate has not been improved, and the fire rate is insufficient; the firepower arrangement of the load-type structure will lead to the warship's center of gravity being too high and the resistance to wind and waves is reduced; the comprehensive fire control system will fundamentally increase the hit rate and cannot bottom the fire rate of the artillery, etc.

In fact, the essence of these controversial voices is not designed for warships, but for East China. They are a group of racial superiority theorists among the Germans who cannot accept the guidance of East China to Germany to build warships. In their opinion, the yellow race is an inferior nation, while the Germanic nation is a higher nation. How can an inferior nation design an excellent warship? How do higher nations need the design of inferior nations?

Although Tirpitz did not care about these opposition voices, William II was somewhat affected, because William II was also a racial superiority theory in essence. However, William II also understood some naval technology. These theories proposed by East China ** are indeed logically feasible, so William II dared not make a decision easily.

For the sake of stability, William II recruited Tirpitz. After discussing, the two decided that the original German-class battleships would be reduced from 4 to 2. The original plan was to use the design concept of the Brunswick-class battleship, using the combination of two main guns, and it was designated as the Pomeranian class, because this was the battleship design that the UK had recognized, and Germany still recognized the British design. In this way, after both types of warships were built, a performance comparison was conducted to determine the future battleship design direction.

Although the Pomeranian-class battleship was almost 10 months later than the German-class battleship, due to the fact that there are many new technologies applied on the German-class battleships and Germany has to devote some energy to building the Ganjiang-class battleships customized in East China, the construction speed is slower. Not only was it caught up by the Pomeranian-class battleships, but even the Fearless battleship that Britain started construction later exceeded its progress. At the same time, many people still sneered at the German-class battleships, believing that building this type of warship was a waste of time and resources, which also affected the construction of the German-class battleships.

At this moment, East China won the Battle of the Taiwan Strait and wiped out the expeditionary fleet, which shocked Germany. Although a few extreme racial superiorists shouted, "This is unscientific, how can inferior nations defeat superior nations?" But William II was still a pragmatic monarch after all, and immediately thought of forming an alliance with East China to curb Russia, so he naturally gave up the tone of racial superiority theory. He no longer blocked the German-class battleships.

However, the launch of the USS Defence battleship once again proved the ability of the battleship design of East China's battleship, because the technological innovations made by the USS Defence battleship were first proposed by East China, and the Ganjiang-class battleship customized in East China were reflected; and at this time, some war details of the Battle of the Taiwan Strait and the Natuna Islands were also disclosed. The Ganjiang-class battleship performed well in both naval battleships, and its combat effectiveness was significantly better than that of the same level of battleships. It also proved that a dreadnought promoted by the UK could be worth two old battleships. It is not an exaggeration.

Only then did no one in Germany say anything about the German-class battleships, but the two temporarily added Pomeranian-class battleships had completed the hull construction at this time and were about to be launched, so it was impossible to change them back. William II could only order that all resources should be tilted towards the German-class battleships, and the construction of these two battleships should be completed as soon as possible. At the same time, it also approved the construction of two German-class battleships, and finally the construction of four warships of the same type would be completed.

Of course, this also triggered a military enthusiast in the future. He is a long-term fight between the researchers, which is the battleship enthusiast and the researchers, is whether the Ganjiang-class battleship is considered a dreadnought, and who is the first dreadnought in the battleship he and the Dreadnought battleship.

Those who support the battleship of the USS Defence are the first dreadnought, who believe that the reason why Ganjiang-class battleship cannot be considered a dreadnought is: firstly, the tonnage is too small, only 12,000 tons, while the tonnage of the USS Defence battleship reaches 18,000 tons; secondly, the three elements of the dreadnought, full-heavy firepower, unified fire control, steam turbine, and Ganjiang-class battleship only meet two, and the power is still a reciprocating steam engine, so it naturally cannot be considered a dreadnought; secondly, after the battleship of the USS Defence battleship was put into service, the battleships built by various countries were also called dreadnoughts, rather than Ganjiang-class ships, which means that all countries agree that the battleship of the USS Defence is the first dreadnought.

Those who support Ganjiang-class battleships believe that it is inappropriate to divide the dreadnought by tonnage, because there is no regulation that the tonnage of a dreadnought must reach more than how many tons to be counted. Moreover, the dreadnoughts built by various countries later were less than 18,000 tons, but all of them were considered dreadnoughts. The same is true for the three elements of dreadnoughts. It is not necessary to have all these three elements to be called dreadnoughts. The key is full-heavy firepower, unified fire control, and use of useless steam turbines. It is not an absolute condition for dreadnoughts. Other dreadnoughts also use reciprocating steam engines.

, and although the Ganjiang-class battleship did not use steam turbines, its speed exceeded 20 knots. Compared with the 18 knots of the contemporary battleship, it has obvious advantages and demonstrated a combat effectiveness far exceeding the contemporary battleships in the Natuna Islands. As for the battleships that all countries have named and built after the dreadnought, this is because of the great influence of the UK. The design concept of the Ganjiang-class battleship is exactly the same as that of the USS Defence battleship, but the design, construction, service, and participation in the war must be earlier than the USS Defence battleship, so it is the well-deserved first dreadnought.
Chapter completed!