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1152 Reading with the Prince

 Warren Harding in another time and space was sworn in on March 4, 1921, and then formed a notorious "Poker Cabinet."

It was called the "Poker Cabinet" because Harding held poker games with cabinet members twice a week. It was hard to say whether there were bets or not. Anyway, this kind of behavior was incompatible with Warren Harding's campaign slogan.

During Harding's campaign, his most famous slogan was "Return to Normalcy," in other words, "Make America Great Again."

After becoming president, Harding did not fulfill his promise. During his campaign, he claimed that if he was elected president, he would increase tariffs, increase ship subsidies, restrict immigration, improve basic transportation conditions, establish public welfare departments, and implement agricultural reforms.

Cooperatives, etc., these promises have basically not been fulfilled.

The White House at that time was so smoky that even Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, saw several decks of cards scattered on the president's desk in the White House and tall glasses filled with whiskey (during Prohibition).

The strong smell of cigar smoke and the fact that the "Ohio guys" had their vests unbuttoned and sat around with their feet on the table were startling.

In 1923, Harding began a "tour of understanding" around the country. During the journey, Harding died of illness. The doctor concluded that it was a stroke.

Before that, Woodrow Wilson was unable to handle political affairs due to a stroke, and Harding died of a stroke, so some people asked for an autopsy of Harding's body.

Harding's wife Florence refused the request.

Then there were rumors that Harding was poisoned by Florence, who hated Harding for his endless scandals.

Although Harding is not the President of the United States yet, as a federal senator and one of the Republican presidential candidates, Harding's death still attracted widespread attention. Doctors also tried to dissect Harding's body to determine the true cause of Harding's death.

, but this request was also rejected by Florence. Florence buried Harding's body as quickly as possible, and the cause of Harding's death became an unsolved mystery.

"That's it?" When Rock learned about Harding's death, he was already in Washington.

Rock really cannot understand the sloppiness of the U.S. judicial department.

After all, Harding was also a federal senator, so his death was unclear, and the political environment in the United States is really too bad.

"Just like that, no one wants to know the true cause of Harding's death. The living Harding is a federal senator, and maybe he will become the President of the United States; the dead Harding has no value. If Harding's body is dissected, it will be found that

Harding was poisoned, so this is another huge scandal. It is better to let the truth be buried in the tomb with Harding." Irving is not surprised. Is this kind of thing rare? Legend has it that Napoleon was the same.

The French did not say that they would open the coffin for an autopsy of the person who was poisoned.

It's better to be buried in peace, the dead are the most important

"Herbert got a big deal, Harding died unexpectedly, and Herbert became the only candidate of the Republican Party. This is a good thing for us." Stoudemire was blindly optimistic. Even if Hoover and Rock had a good relationship,

But in terms of British-American relations, Hoover would not be biased toward Britain.

"It's hard to say yet, I hope so." Rock said calmly. A good personal relationship must also be maintained by interests. For a slave trader, don't expect him to have a high moral bottom line.

In a New York radio interview, Hoover declared: What America needs now is not heroism but healing; not panacea but normalization; not revolution but restoration; not excitement but peace of mind; not experimentation.

, but to maintain a balance: not to be involved in international affairs, but to succeed domestically

These words may sound very inflammatory, but in fact, if you look carefully, they say nothing. They are standard lies and empty talk, without a single word of truth.

However, these vague remarks have indeed achieved good results. They can be understood in any way, just like the clichés commonly used by fortune tellers.

"The U.S. Department of the Navy has proposed a shipbuilding plan, planning to build twelve new aircraft carriers within ten years, with a maximum tonnage of 55,000 tons. The Americans are simply crazy." Irving has all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Today, southern Africa still has a relationship with the United States.

The difference is, look at this person’s handiwork.

"Don't take it too seriously, maybe it's a smoke bomb set off by the Americans." Rock knows the Americans. This is probably the United States building momentum for the naval conference. There are 12 55,000-ton aircraft carriers with a total tonnage of 660,000 tons. Think about it.

impossible.

The United States is now also beginning to pay attention to aircraft carriers. While ordering aircraft carriers from southern Africa, domestic research on aircraft carriers has also begun.

Just in April this year, the United States refitted the coal ship USS Langley, which was decommissioned in March, in an attempt to convert the USS Langley into an aircraft carrier. The project is expected to take two years.

This fully proves the United States' urgency for new weapons such as aircraft carriers.

The aircraft carrier ordered by the United States from southern Africa will not be delivered until next year, but the United States cannot even wait a year. Now it is refitting, so the next step is to directly build it. The United States has this strength.

"We can also announce a shipbuilding plan. The Americans will build 12 ships in ten years, and we will build 24 ships, always twice as many as the Americans." Stoudemire said nonsense, and the United States shouted to build 12 ships. It is really tightening its belt.

It can be done. If the UK clamors to build 24 ships, it will really become a joke.

There are 24 55,000-ton aircraft carriers, with a total tonnage of 1.32 million tons. The Royal Navy can't even pawn its underpants to build them.

Sure enough, as soon as Stoudemire finished speaking, Irving and Sidney Milner looked at Stoudemire like they were idiots.

It's like a fool. A certain fish's military knowledge is already idiotic enough, and there is something even more idiotic here.

"Building aircraft carriers is not realistic, but it is possible to build super battleships. Japan has Nagato, and the United States has Maryland. We should also have our own super battleships." Rocker started from reality. Super battleships are post-Jyltland type battleships. The United States and Japan

They all have similar shipbuilding plans, but Britain has none.

Since the birth of the "Dreadnaught" battleship, battleships have developed to the present. Since the Battle of Jutland, they have been divided into the former Jutland type and the post-Jutland type.

After the Battle of Jutland, based on the lessons learned from this naval battle, the major naval countries improved the design of the dreadnought: increasing the caliber of the main gun, improving the protection of the turret, gunpowder magazine and other parts; taking key protective measures and thickening the armor of important parts

, reduce or eliminate the armor of non-important parts; pay attention to horizontal protection and torpedo protection below the waterline.

This type of dreadnought battleship is often called the "post-Jylland battleship"

The representative among them was the later "Forced G7".

The so-called "G7" refers to the seven most powerful battleships in the world after the Washington Naval Conference, including the three Colorado-class battleships of the United States, the USS Colorado, the USS Maryland, and the USS West Virginia.

; Japan's two Nagato-class battleships "Nagato" and "Mutsu"; and the British two Nelson-class battleships, namely "Nelson" and "Rodney".

After the Washington Naval Conference, according to the provisions of the "Washington Naval Treaty", only these seven battleships in the world were equipped with main guns with a caliber of 16 inches or more (406 mm), so they were called "G7".

In "Forcing G7", Japan deliberately concealed the caliber of its main gun, claiming that although it was 406, the caliber of its main gun was actually 410 mm.

Here we can see who is really unable to hold on at the Washington Naval Conference and who is fishing in troubled waters.

Yes, we are talking about France and Italy. Regardless of the ambitions shown by France and Italy at the Washington Naval Conference, when it comes to implementation, France and Italy are beyond their capabilities, otherwise they would not be able to build a post-Jylland ship.

It can't be built either.

"We already have relevant plans, but they have not been implemented yet." Irving has no choice. The Royal Navy has no money, and British diplomats now lack confidence.

"Then announce the plan first, don't worry about building it or not, just brag it out. Japan wants to build the 88th Fleet, and the United States wants to build ten super battleships. Let's just build 20 ships." Rock is not afraid of boasting.

Even Italy is clamoring to start construction, and Britain has nothing to fear.

The Italians' thinking is probably similar to Roque's. Just two days ago, the Kingdom's Senator Carlo Sanze, who was sent by Italy to attend the naval meeting, claimed that the Kingdom of Italy will build two new super-dreadnoughts with main guns of 406 mm caliber.

I don’t know where the Italians got their confidence. They don’t even know how to build a 406 mm caliber naval gun.

Although Rock's claim to build 20 ships is bragging, Britain really has the technical capabilities to build post-Jylland-type dreadnoughts, and it really has a plan.

The Italians simply lied. The British battlecruiser HMS Hood had a displacement of 41,200 tons, and the largest Italian battleship, the HMS Andrea Doria, only had a displacement of 22,700 tons.

The Jutland-type battleships do not have a displacement of 40,000 to 50,000 tons, and they are embarrassed to say hello to people when they go out.

On August 20th, the Washington Naval Conference was officially held.

Just as Rock imagined, as soon as the naval meeting began, representatives from various countries began to bicker with each other, refusing to give in to each other for their own interests.

As the host, the United States proposed a so-called plan on the first day of the conference:

1. Stop building capital ships.

Second, demolish some old warships.

Third, the total tonnage of capital ships is used as the standard to calculate naval strength and determine the proportions of each country. The capital ships of the United States and Britain are each 500,000 tons, and Japan is 300,000 tons, which is 5:5:3. The auxiliary ships are based on the capital ships.

stipulated ratio.

This plan was immediately opposed by Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

Balfour felt that the tonnage received by Britain was too small. Half a million tons was not enough, and one million tons was about the same.

Japan also feels that it is not enough. Japan believes that if the battleships of the United States and Britain are 500,000 tons, then Japan's battleships should be at least 350,000 tons, that is, 10:10:7, which is in line with Japan's strength.

France and Italy reacted even more strongly. Even if the United States and the United Kingdom each have 500,000, even Japan has 300,000. What about France and Italy?

I didn't come to Washington to study with the prince.


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