Chapter 183 Battlecruiser

"Mr. Prime Minister, according to what you said, Greece can certainly seek to buy pre-dreadnoughts from Britain to hedge against the drastic changes in the Aegean Sea after the Ottoman Empire bought dreadnoughts from Germany. However, pre-dreadnoughts are outdated warships. After three to five years, these pre-dreadnoughts will be completely outdated and have no ability to resist the dreadnoughts of various countries in the world. The cost-effectiveness is too low. Instead of spending a lot of money to buy outdated warships, it is better to add some funds on this basis and directly purchase the most cutting-edge representative of world naval technology-battlecruisers. The Greek Navy has such cutting-edge warships. At least in ten years, these warships can ensure that the Greek Navy will not be pulled too far behind by the naval powers." Seeing that his news had worked and made the Prime Minister slow down his tone, Kontoriotis took the opportunity to add more.

"But the price of this battlecruiser..." Alexandros still looked embarrassed.

"I think we should compromise. Four battlecruisers is definitely too many. Greece can't afford it. The number should be reduced to two," Constantine said.

"First of all, as the naval commander said, since the purchase of new warships to deal with the threat of the Ottoman Empire is a foregone conclusion, we should just buy the latest warships. Naval warfare is different from land warfare. Once the performance of warships is outdated, it is easy to be defeated by the enemy by a large margin."

In the history of world wars, there have been many cases of the weak defeating the strong in land warfare, but in naval warfare. Almost all the advantages have won.

"In addition, the Greek Navy has the latest battlecruisers of 10,000 tons, which can also boost the morale and national pride of the Greek people."

When it comes to boosting national morale and national pride, everyone at the meeting thought of a piece of news-the Great White Fleet.

According to the news from the Greek Embassy in the United States, US President Theodore Roosevelt will send a fleet of 16 main battleships and several auxiliary ships to sail around the world. Since these main battleships are painted white, they are called the Great White Fleet.

According to the visit application submitted by the Americans, the fleet is expected to visit Athens in April next year.

This news instantly attracted the attention of countries around the world.

Before this, the United States was already the world's first economic power and the world's first industrial power. The industrial output value of the United States accounted for more than 30% of the world, and it was a well-deserved industrial hegemon.

There is no doubt that the fully-fledged Americans can't wait to show their strength to the world and make their voices heard.

If the Greek Navy can have a national heavy weapon such as a 10,000-ton battlecruiser, the patriotism of the Greek people will inevitably surge, and everyone present can't help but think of it.

"Of course, there is also that we can enhance the country's industrial strength through the purchase of warships this time," Constantine said.

Seeing everyone's puzzled eyes, Constantine explained: "This is my plan. For two battlecruisers, we will place an order for one from a British shipyard, and we can start building the other one in Greece. One of the additional conditions for the British to obtain this large order is to provide the Athens shipyard with the latest improved drawings of the Invincible-class battlecruisers."

After the words fell, the conference room was quiet for a moment, and immediately began to fall into chaos. Everyone discussed Constantine's proposal with each other.

Prime Minister Alexandros, who was sitting next to Constantine, asked with a face full of doubt: "Your Highness, is this too whimsical? How can Greek shipyards have the ability to build 10,000-ton battleships, and the most advanced battlecruisers? How can we have such a complete industrial system?"

In this era, battleships can definitely be said to be the representative of high-end manufacturing. The construction of battleships has extremely high requirements for the perfection and industrial level of a country's industrial system.

Does Greece have such an industrial level?

Seeing that everyone in the conference room was looking at him with surprise, Constantine had to explain: "Greece's industrial level is certainly not so perfect. What I mean by building warships is that some important components are imported from abroad, such as armored steel and power systems. We can buy Harvey armored steel from the United States, or buy steam turbines and kerosene mixed boilers from the United Kingdom. The same is true for large-caliber naval guns, which can be carried out through bidding."

Kontoriotis, the naval commander, is not so confident about Greece's shipbuilding level: "Your Highness, the Athens Shipyard is indeed capable of building 10,000-ton ships at present, but the standards of civilian ships and military ships are very different. It does not mean that the Athens Shipyard can build 10,000-ton cargo ships or freighters, and it can also build 10,000-ton warships."

In order to improve the shipbuilding technology level of the Athens Shipyard, Constantine instructed Costebru, the general manager of the Greek Congo Corporation, to place an order for several 10,000-ton ships to the Athens Shipyard to replace the smaller ships in the hands of the shipping company under the Greek Congo Corporation.

At the same time, in order to quickly improve the shipbuilding level, the Athens Shipyard not only recruited a large number of top students from the University of Athens, but also poached experienced shipbuilding engineers from well-known foreign shipyards with high salaries.

In order to test the construction level of the Athens Shipyard, Constantine himself even spent a huge amount of 35 million drachmas to purchase a 10,000-ton cruise ship "Duke of Sparta" from the Athens Shipyard.

In the future, the Greek royal family or government heads will take this cruise ship when they make state visits.

Since Constantine dared to make such a bold statement and proposed that a battlecruiser be built by a Greek shipyard, he naturally had something to rely on.

"Even if, as you said, the key components are purchased from abroad, and the Athens Shipyard is only responsible for assembly, this technical requirement for the Athens Shipyard may be too high..." As the commander of the Greek Navy, Kontoriotis couldn't directly express his disdain for his own shipbuilding capabilities.

"We can make clear requirements to the battleship builders and ask them to send a certain number of engineers to assist Greece in construction"

"And, taking a step back, even if the Athens Shipyard's plan to build a battlecruiser fails, isn't there another one purchased from abroad? The navy will not get nothing," Constantine explained.

After hesitating for a moment, Kontoriotis continued to ask: "The Invincible-class battlecruiser is currently one of the main battleships of the United Kingdom. We are willing to buy it. Even if the relationship between Greece and the United Kingdom is good, are the British willing to sell it? Especially the additional condition that the drawings are handed over to the Athens Shipyard"