The drought in Italy lasted until the end of 1897. During most of this year, the drought in Italy was alleviated with the concerted efforts of the people and the government. Of course, the consumption of relief materials in Italy was also high.
However, none of this can compare to October. A large amount of sufficient rainfall in southern Italy lifted the drought, and at the same time, Italian people from all walks of life breathed a sigh of relief.
However, although the drought has been lifted, everyone, including Carlo and the Prime Minister, looked ugly when looking at the ruined treasury.
This drought has put greater pressure on Italy's finances, and it will have hard times again.
Of course, on one day during this period, Parliament quietly passed the Suffrage Amendment Bill. However, in the face of this, Carlo could only pretend that he did not see it.
Of course, in addition to the troubles at home, there are also major events happening in Germany. German Navy Minister Tirpitz, who only took office in June this year, proposed the famous Navy Bill to the German Parliament, which was also the first Navy Bill.
In the bill, Tirpitz requested that by 1904, the German naval fleet should be equipped with 18 capital ships, 8 coastal defense armored ships, and 40 cruisers, at a cost of more than 490 million marks.
Does it feel like something is wrong?
That's right, this naval bill has one less cruiser and two less cruisers than in history, and the cost of shipbuilding is actually more than 10 million marks higher.
The reason for the difference in history still lies with Carlo. After Italy shared its naval technology and military concepts with Germany, the development of the German navy was somewhat different.
First of all, in the exchange of naval warship design, naval designers from Italy taught their German counterparts a lesson.
The Brandenburg class and Frederick III class built by the German counterparts were criticized a lot. Of course, criticism alone is not convincing. After all, anyone can find the opponent's warships by just talking and not practicing.
After all, there is no perfect battleship. Only after the Italian colleagues came up with various modification suggestions and explanations of their effects did the German colleagues become convinced.
Of course, in the exchanges between designers, there is someone who is still so eye-catching, and that’s right, it’s you; His Excellency Vittorio Cuniberti.
This talented battleship designer who has attracted attention all over the world has also attracted the attention of many people.
Not only did he communicate with his German counterparts, he was also invited to meet and communicate with Rear Admiral Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. After some exchanges, both of them were equally impressed by his talent.
Rear Admiral Tirpitz even said that if the German warships were designed by him, the performance of the German warships would be improved by at least 5%.
As for the Kaiser, he went too far. He extended an invitation to the talented designer and offered him the title of Viscount as long as he was willing to work for Germany.
There is no way, for these two naval enthusiasts, Vittorio Cuniberti is like a hungry man meeting delicious food.
Of course, it was more because of Vittorio Cuniberti's talent in shipbuilding that the two of them felt reluctant to part with each other. (One more thing, I have always felt that there are very few outstanding German warship designers, and this is not a source of war. Everyone
You can think about it carefully, who are the outstanding battleship designers in Germany?)
Of course, there is a reason why the two are so obsessed with his talent. Once when the two were talking to Cuniberti, Major General Tirpitz half-jokingly proposed the technical requirements for a new German battleship. And the third
Three days later, Cuniberti came up with a design plan. Of course, Cuniberti himself said that this plan was modified from the original plan, but coming up with a plan in three days still shocked everyone.
.
More importantly, this plan is quite good. After observing it, the German colleagues all said that their designs would not be better than it, which is very embarrassing.
In this exchange, the German designers learned a lot. At least the problem of wasting tonnage can be corrected to some extent.
After all, the high requirements of the Italian Navy left designers no chance of wasting tonnage.
Of course, in addition to designers, exchanges between the two countries are also very useful in terms of battleship technology.
The exchange of large-caliber naval guns, boilers, steam engines, optical sights and other equipment has greatly benefited the two navies.
In any case, in the face of the massive expansion of the German navy, Italy can only watch the excitement. Because of this drought, Italy's finances have been unable to recover for several years. This is too expensive and they dare not keep up.
For the Italian Navy, there is nothing but envy in the eyes of the Italian navy that their German counterparts are preparing to start construction on a large scale. It is good that they can keep three Garibaldi-class patrol ships now, and they want to continue to expand. They want nothing more.
What's going on?
This is caused by the drought.
Because the drought was not severe before, the government's financial pressure was great. Of course, it wanted to find money from everywhere. At that time, the shipyard had just sent two Spanish ships of the same model away on patrol. Wasn't this preparing to replace the two ships of the Navy?
As a result, someone suggested that when Italy's finances are currently so tight, the construction of two cruise ships with a total cost of 68 million lire should be slowed down first. Or should one be built first and the other one wait until the finances ease?
, and start construction again.
Such a proposal within the government immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the navy. For this reason, Admiral Yagier, the admiral of the navy, publicly lost his temper at a meeting. The navy has contributed so much to the country and worked so hard to protect the country's trade every year, but there are still people saying that
We need to cut down the Navy's shipbuilding expenses. Don't let him meet such a person when he goes there, otherwise he won't be polite to him.
Well, Admiral Yagir relied on his physical strength and his attitude of wanting to compete with others. Although crude, it was effective. Such remarks that he wanted the Navy to save shipbuilding costs later dissipated.
However, although this kind of talk has dissipated, the Italian Navy is still watching closely. It cannot relax its vigilance until the two patrol ships are halfway built.
For the Italian Navy, the current equipment and patrol gap is serious, and these two equipment and patrol ships are too important to the navy.
Of course, in addition to these two ships, the Italian Navy also needs to pay attention to the three Genoa-class battleships that have been launched and outfitted (Genoa, Bologna, and Cagliari).
Although the tonnage of these three warships has been reduced, their performance is not inferior to the Turin class at all, and some areas have even been strengthened.
Of course, as a new ship, it is better than the Turin class which has been in service for nearly ten years.
The more than 2,000 officers and soldiers prepared for this class of warships have also begun to become familiar with the warships and are waiting for the sea trials after the outfitting is completed.
Italian navy officers and soldiers are waiting for the new ship, and there are also people waiting.
