Since Carlo is betting everything, he must try his best.
Now that the Prime Minister is no longer stopping him, various preparations must be accelerated.
First of all, the two Venice-class patrol ships are the key to this operation. Although it is impossible to compete with the French dispatched fleet in the future, as long as they are used well, they can still blind them.
In Carlo's view, the biggest role of these two patrol ships is to intercept transportation supply lines and even block their Far East trade. As long as this can be done, Paris will definitely go crazy.
Therefore, Carlo was naturally very concerned about it and rushed to Genoa many times to check on the two ships undergoing sea trials.
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Soares."
"Hello, Your Majesty."
"Hello, Captain Leifer."
"Hello, Your Majesty"
"Hello, Captain Gomes."
Hello, Your Majesty.
At the Genoa naval base, Carlo cordially greeted the commanders of the armored patrol formation who had just returned from sea trials.
Some people may wonder why the cruise captain has the rank of captain and shouldn't he be a school-level officer?
Indeed, according to the practice of the Italian Navy, those who can serve as captains on cruisers are basically at the rank of lieutenant commander, not to mention that this is a 7,000-ton cruiser, and this should be the case.
However, these two battleships are quite special. First, they were built with royal funds. Second, these two battleships are probably unlikely to appear in the Italian Navy's combat ship sequence.
Because Carlo has already talked with Admiral Golek, Minister of the Navy, these two warships will be sold in the future. Of course, Carlo will not treat the navy badly. The funds from the sale of the warships can be included in the navy's subsequent shipbuilding expenses.
Of course, it is impossible for the Navy to get this money for nothing. The Navy needs to prepare personnel for these two warships, and ordinary ones are not enough. They must have elite troops and strong generals.
At this time, Carlo informed Admiral Gorek of his true purpose. The two warships would be sold to the Qing government in the future to fight against the French invasion. In view of their weak naval strength, they still need to be considered.
Configure crew.
Faced with Carlo's instructions, Admiral Gorek didn't know what to say, but in view of the fine traditions of the navy, he could only do as he was told.
Fortunately, when it comes to selecting crew members, Italy has a large number of experienced veterans, so it is not a big problem to select some. However, he has some difficulties in selecting captains.
When it comes to captain candidates with naval combat experience, Italy has no shortage of captains. After the battle with the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Salisbury Sea, the navy had a large number of them.
However, seventeen or eight years have passed since this naval battle. If the captains of those years had not retired, they would have been at least the rank of rear admiral, and they were obviously not suitable to go to the Far East to participate in the battle. After all, if a general-level figure appears on this ship, then
It is difficult to say that Italy is not deeply involved. Moreover, it must also be considered that the two battleships may be captured by the French, so the risk is too high for senior officers to appear.
Not only were senior officers unsuitable, but even school-level officers had to be as few as possible, so the opportunity came for naval officers at the captain level, and two lucky captains, Gomes and Leifer, were selected to become two ships.
Captain on patrol.
As for Lieutenant Colonel Soares, he is responsible for commanding the formation and teaching the two captains how to use the cruiser. He will not follow the battleship to the Far East.
These two captains were not chosen randomly. They are both rising stars within the Navy. Among them, Captain Leifer was born in a noble family in Turin. He joined the Navy in 1873 and once served as the second officer with Galli.
The frigate USS Poli traveled around the world. He later served as the captain of the gunboat USS Fighter and the first mate of the cruiser USS Valiant. During his tenure, he received unanimous praise from his superiors and subordinates. His superiors once commented that he is brave, calm and effective in doing things.
Courageous, resourceful and very independent, but able to listen to other people's opinions.
As for Captain Gomes, he was born into a fisherman family in Sardinia. Although his background was not good, Gomes was extremely talented in learning. He was once recruited by the naval officer of Livorno with the third place in the school. And in the military academy
During this period, Gomes performed well in school and eventually graduated second in his grade. He was subsequently awarded the rank of second lieutenant and served successively as a gunnery officer on the armored ship Garrosh, second officer on the cruiser Piccolo, and senior officer.
Deputy position. During this period, superiors at all levels spoke highly of him and called him a Pusno-like figure. This man was not particularly famous in the Battle of Salisbury, but the third formation he commanded,
It firmly blocked the Austro-Hungarian fleet and bought time for the Italian navy to regroup.
It can be said that these two captain officers are the next generation hope of the navy. Appointing them as captains shows the navy's seriousness.
After Carlo greeted the three of them, he continued to ask, "How is this audition going?"
"God bless, this sea trial was not bad. The two captains have a tacit understanding. Sometimes, even if I don't give orders, they can make the same choice tacitly."
As the commander of the fleet, Lieutenant Colonel Soares praised the actions of the two captains.
His praise made the two thin-skinned captains lower their heads. In front of Carlo, they were still a little uncomfortable with these compliments.
"I am very aware of the capabilities of Captains Leifer and Liefer. This is not a problem for them."
Carlo had been to Genoa once or twice, so he naturally knew the abilities of these two people, so after giving him a compliment, he continued to ask, "So, are there any shortcomings in this sea trial?"
"In terms of feeling, its turning radius is larger, perhaps because the ship is longer, and the power system may be due to the use of a new triple-expansion steam engine, which has a much higher failure rate than the previous vertical compound steam engine.
.”
"Also, gunnery officers and soldiers responded that because the two-stage main gun adopts a fully enclosed turret structure, its internal ventilation is very poor, and it will feel stuffy if you stay in it for a long time. In addition, during shooting training, the gunpowder smoke inside is very heavy
, which greatly affects the operation of personnel.”
"in addition……"
The three commanders talked about a lot of issues, and Carlo listened patiently to their speeches. However, the designer Vittorio Cuniberti on the side was writing quickly, recording the exposed problems.
Solve the problems that can be solved immediately, and come up with improvement plans for the next construction of the problems that cannot be solved.
Carlo did not stay long at the shipyard, and then invited the three officers to have dinner. In the beautiful Genoa Dove restaurant, the four of them talked and laughed.
But then an attendant came in with a telegram.
"Your Majesty, this is an urgent telegram from France."
When Carlo heard that it was an urgent telegram, he stopped chatting with the three commanders and took the telegram.
There were not many words on it, but the content was indeed what Carlo had been waiting for. The French Parliament had just made a resolution in the afternoon to declare war on the Qing Dynasty.
The time he had been waiting for was ripe, and he needed to act immediately.
After Carlo put away the telegram, he smiled at the three curious officers. "You three, you don't have much time."
