The Fox of France

On the first Monday after the new year, Joseph Bonaparte delivered the annual state of the nation address. He declared that France was facing new dangers due to the disruptions caused by some internal and external enemies. However, he emphasized that despite these challenges, France remained the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world, and he and his government were confident in overcoming the current temporary difficulties to ensure France's continued greatness.

Following this, Joseph Bonaparte presented the new fiscal year budget to the Council of State. In this budget, he proposed adopting an active fiscal policy to stimulate domestic demand and revive the French economy. A central aspect of this "expanding domestic demand" was a significant increase in military spending by France.

Firstly, France had completed the expansion of its army by five hundred thousand troops. Of course, Joseph Bonaparte stressed that the expansion of the army was not aimed at aggression but rather at defending peace. The newly expanded army would not be organized into combat units but would be integrated into newly formed engineering corps.

However, other countries did not believe this explanation. Their skepticism stemmed not from doubting that France would form a large engineering corps but from their understanding that even if these five hundred thousand were all engineers, they could still free up a considerable number of combat troops.

But the bulk of the increased military spending went to expanding the navy. In the new fiscal budget, a substantial sum was allocated for shipbuilding. It was said that the navy had previously proposed a frightening shipbuilding plan, but when Admiral Treveil submitted it to Joseph Bonaparte, it was swiftly rejected, with Joseph Bonaparte adding a note on the cover of the plan: "Petty!"

So Admiral Treveil made significant revisions to the plan. He proposed new objectives, namely the so-called twin goals: for the French navy to become the world's premier navy, and for the total displacement of French naval vessels to surpass the combined displacement of the world's second and third navies.

Considering that the French navy already had an advantage in weapon quality, if they also had this numerical advantage, what chance would the British have? Although the British had reluctantly acknowledged that the French were slightly ahead in technology, they still maintained a slight numerical advantage. Additionally, considering that the British navy was better trained and had higher command capabilities (at least according to the British themselves), the British navy remained the world's number one.

Especially last year, the British launched a steel battleship named the "Queen Elizabeth," which was even more powerful than France's "Jean Bart" class battleship. Its displacement exceeded ten thousand tons when fully loaded (though its standard displacement was just under eight thousand tons, slightly larger than the seven-thousand-ton "Jean Bart," but the British preferred to promote its full displacement). It was equipped with six of the world's largest ten-inch rear-mounted rifled guns, each shell weighing 500 pounds. In comparison, the 150mm guns on the "Jean Bart" were like toothpicks or mushrooms. Of course, the British were unaware that the French 150mm guns used a recoil mechanism and a semi-automatic loading system, with a firing rate of five to six rounds per minute per gun. In contrast, the British 10-pounder guns could manage one shot every five or six minutes.

Furthermore, the British claimed that their warships had thicker and stronger armor. This was indeed the case, but the price paid for this was not mentioned by the British. The ship was jokingly referred to by the Royal Navy sailors as the "Iron Turtle." As a ship of similar size to the "Jean Bart," it had more and heavier guns and thicker armor. Consequently, there was insufficient displacement left for the power system. These displacement requirements had to be balanced between the size of the coal bunker and the size of the steam engine. If the steam engine was enlarged, speed was ensured, but range suffered. Therefore, the ship had to compromise and reduce its maximum speed to 12 knots.

The decrease in speed would, of course, bring various problems in combat. However, the launch of this ship still excited the British, who felt that they had finally caught up with the French in naval technology.

However, when France openly announced their ambitious shipbuilding plans, the British suddenly felt suffocated.

In France's shipbuilding plan, they intended to start constructing a new type of battleship called the "Augustus-class" battleship. The standard displacement of these ships would reach eleven thousand tons, their firepower would far surpass that of the "Jean Bart-class," their armor would be further reinforced, and their speed would be maintained at the level of the "Jean Bart-class." France planned to build six large shipyards specifically for the construction of these battleships and intended to produce eighteen "Augustus-class" battleships over the next six years.

If it were just a matter of the "Augustus-class" battleships, it would be manageable, but the more deadly aspect was that France's shipbuilding plans were comprehensive. It also included two-thousand-ton "Agile-class" unprotected fast cruisers, four-thousand-ton "Virgil-class" armored cruisers, and the next-generation successor to the "Free Trade-class" super cruiser, the seven-thousand-ton "Hermes-class" super cruiser.

Among these ships, the two-thousand-ton "Agile-class" cruisers were primarily intended for colonial use, emphasizing speed and endurance, with moderate firepower and protection, posing limited threats to Britain. However, the four-thousand-ton "Virgil-class" armored cruisers posed a greater threat to Britain. With a displacement of four thousand tons, they were relatively balanced warships, with somewhat weak firepower but more than sufficient to deal with the existing two-thousand-ton steel-and-wooden-hull steam cruisers in British hands, and their larger displacement ensured good endurance. These cruisers could easily cross the Atlantic, coupled with a speed of up to 18 knots, making it impossible for the British to catch up or escape. They posed a deadly threat to Britain's maritime routes. And in France's plan, they intended to build fifty of these!

Then there were the "Hermes-class" super cruisers, which had firepower comparable to the "Jean Bart-class," but with a speed of up to 20 knots, albeit with slightly weaker defense. However, it was still better than any British warship other than the "Queen Elizabeth."

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