Nanyang Storm 1864

After entering the 20th century

The Great Chu Empire swiftly unleashed two long-planned heavy blows, taking advantage of Britain's preoccupation with other matters to seize the Dutch East Indies and Australia, instantly doubling the empire's original territory.

After this major upheaval, it entered a period of dormancy and digestion.

By the time the world's major powers realized what was happening, it was too late. While they were shocked, this also served as a wake-up call for the world's major powers.

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany said with a hint of jealousy;
"This is a giant crocodile lurking underwater, which always leaps up and snatches a large piece of prey when Europe is off guard."

"The Congo River in West Africa is like this, the East Indies are like this, and then there's Australia, which the British handed over. So who will be the next victim?"

"While we were basking in the glory of our occupation of Qingdao, the East turned around and swallowed up Australia, which is almost 15 times the size of Germany. What's wrong with this world?"

Wilhelm II's undisguised remarks fully expressed the complex feelings of the world's great powers, who looked at the State of Chu with a mixture of vigilance and bewilderment.

Damn it, everyone knows the British Empire has declined, but no one can snatch a big piece of meat from Britain, except for the State of Chu.

Having learned from the past
The United States is now showing signs of restlessness, with the "divine mission" to unify the North American continent resurfacing and revealing an attempt to annex Canada.

The moment this trend was exposed, it immediately drew a stern warning from Britain.

Immediate measures were taken
After withdrawing more than 4760 Canadian soldiers from South Africa, the British Army deployed 11,500 soldiers from the Manchester Rifles and the 11th Royal Army Division to Quebec and Ontario, which are adjacent to North America.

The British Royal Navy also dispatched a fleet to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick to bolster Canada's naval forces, with the aim of deterring any potential American ambitions.

Lord Henry Campbell, the British Foreign Secretary, bluntly warned Washington: "Stop messing with Canada, or I won't hesitate to bombard New York and let these American bumpkins taste the iron fist of the British Empire."

In Europe

Germany viewed Britain as a "declining empire" and launched increasingly aggressive challenges, testing Britain's bottom line.

In particular, the plans of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who was highly regarded by Kaiser Wilhelm II, to build the German Navy into a force capable of challenging the world dominance of the British Royal Navy deeply stung the sensitive nerves of the British.

His proposed "High Seas Fleet" plan drove the British crazy, thus triggering the second Anglo-German naval arms race.

The UK's planned Dreadnought-class battleship construction program is the latest product of the naval arms race. The relevant battleship blueprints have been submitted to the Admiralty and will be reviewed by experts.

Based on the opinions of experts from the British Admiralty, the construction blueprints for the Dreadnought-class battleships were revised, and then underwent a second and third review before finally being approved.

The next step was to include it in the Royal Navy's annual construction plan, select a shipyard to prepare for construction, and once the funding was in place, the battleship construction phase would begin...

Construction began in large numbers between 1904 and 1905.

This new concept of a fully heavy-gun battleship is not a new thing in the field of cutting-edge naval technology.

More than a decade ago
The concept of a "fully heavy gun battleship" by the famous Italian engineer Cuniberdi was a main battleship with a displacement of 17,900 tons and a speed of 21 knots, and he also drew up the blueprints.

It is equipped with 10 305 mm main guns, 24 76 mm secondary guns, and 5 underwater torpedo launchers, all mounted in five turrets. The armor on both sides, the turrets, and the conning tower is 280 mm thick, capable of withstanding heavy artillery bombardment.

This theoretical main naval weapon was difficult to realize at the time due to the limitations of the technology available.

With the rapid advancement of naval steam turbine power technology, the ideas of that time are now fully achievable.

In the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire
There is also a plan to build a "fully heavy gun battleship" with a displacement of over 2 tons and a speed of 19.5 knots.

Equipped with two foremost and two aftmost, a total of four twin-mounted 305mm main guns, it had one less twin-mounted main gun than the British dreadnoughts, resulting in slightly inferior firepower.

Its long-range capability has been greatly improved, with a range a quarter longer than that of the British Dreadnoughts, and a speed of 8200 nautical miles (approximately 1.5 kilometers) at 10 knots, which is unparalleled in the world.

This new type of main battleship is a key project of the "15-Year Military Building Plan for the New Century" of the Royal Army of the Great Chu Empire. In addition, there are plans to build battlecruisers, heavy cruisers and light cruisers to replace the older generation of ironclad ships.

Since there is no real threat, and it is necessary to maintain a certain size of main fleet.

The Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire has many old ironclad warships from the previous century that have been in service for more than 30 years and are still at sea. These include old ships such as Zhen Dong, Zhen Xi, Zhen Nan, Zhen Bei, Zhen Wei, Zhen Yuan, Zhen Hai, Zhen Jiang, Zhen He, and Zhen Hu, which are still serving diligently in various governor's offices.

These ten old ships, bearing the name "Zhen," have undergone a complete overhaul from the earliest era of sailing warships to the era of ironclad warfare, and have unknowingly fallen behind the times once again.

20 century

The Second Industrial Revolution, represented by electrical and chemical advancements, swept across the world, bringing forth a plethora of new technologies and inventions that greatly propelled global scientific and technological development, resulting in rapid and ever-changing progress.

In this environment
After more than a decade, older generation warships have become unable to keep up with the needs of the times and have been gradually withdrawn from active naval service.

In the British Royal Navy, twenty or thirty ironclad warships of similar designation as "Town" have been decommissioned and quickly replaced by new warships, keeping the Royal Navy at the forefront of naval technology development and construction worldwide.

The Great Chu Empire was not as wealthy as Britain, and adhering to the principle of "using what can be used," these old ironclad warships are still serving their purpose in the border region of the Governor's Office.

These old ironclad warships were indeed outdated compared to the cutting-edge warships of the world's naval powers, such as Europe, Britain, Germany, and France.

However, compared with second-rate naval powers such as the United States, Russia, Japan, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, the Royal Navy of the Great Chu was still formidable and no one dared to underestimate it.

This is because the main force of the Royal Navy of Great Chu was the Manila-class battleships. From the early Manila-class to the Manila-class Type A, Manila-class Type B, and then to the Manila-class Type C, a total of 12 main battleships were built, and technological progress never stopped.

These 12 main battleships are the true core of the Great Chu Empire's Royal Navy, reaching world-class levels and comparable to the main fleets of the German and French navies.

With a total of 22 capital ships, it ranks third in the world, after Britain and Germany, and higher than the French Navy, making it the most powerful naval force outside of Europe.

The new generation of warships of the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire has been named the "Coconut City" class. The first batch will be built as the "Coconut City" and the "Brisbane". The warship blueprint is currently under review.

During the confrontation with Britain
Originally planned to build eight ships, after the signing of the Australian Transitional Treaty, the number was significantly reduced to two new battleships due to insufficient royal funds (note: £62 million in compensation to Britain, £30 million in the first year and £16 million in each of the following two years) and the need to curry favor with Britain.

The original plan was for six more ships: the Bandung, Surabaya, Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, and Palembang, all of which were newly incorporated imperial territories.

This delay meant several years would pass. Many countries have long held the view that a navy takes years to build; naval development is never a one-off event, requiring decades of sustained, substantial investment and the full support of the nation.

This thing is a real "money-devouring beast".

Britain was the most generous in the naval arms race. In 1902, the Royal Navy's budget alone amounted to £1.22 million, more than six times that of the State of Chu.

The Chu Kingdom's budget for the Royal Navy in 1902 was close to one hundred million silver dollars, but it was still less than a fraction of Britain's budget. This was due to the different regional threats and challenges faced by the two countries.

In 1902, the national output of the State of Chu had surpassed that of Britain and was behind the United States and Germany. It was not far behind Germany, with a total of less than ten million silver dollars. It can be said that the two were on par.

However, the military expenditure of the State of Chu was far lower than that of England and Germany.

In 1902, Germany's military expenditure included a staggering £4260 million invested in the Royal Navy alone, striving to build a high seas fleet comparable to that of Britain.

This amount is more than double that of the State of Chu.

In the 1903 budget, the German Navy's budget would see a substantial increase of over 23%, which would be used to fuel the arms race and challenge British maritime dominance.

In contrast, the State of Chu saw a reduction in its naval spending, compared to -3.1% the previous year.

Therefore, while ensuring that the scale of construction of new battleships, battlecruisers, and heavy cruisers remains unchanged, the Royal Navy of Great Chu will need to reduce its existing naval personnel and logistics bases to a certain extent.

Cut some unnecessary budgets, such as the offshore frigate project, the large torpedo boat project, and the new Australian naval base project, and retire some naval personnel to save money.

The submarine project, which Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu personally oversaw, cannot be abandoned under any circumstances and must continue to receive sufficient research and development funding.

Compared to these world-leading naval powers, Japan and the Russian Empire were far inferior, unable to compete with these maritime giants in terms of fleet size or experience.

Only the four new battleships of the Shikishima-class, ordered from Britain—the Shikishima, Asahi, Hatsuse, and Mikasa—could reach the level of the Manila-class.

The Great Chu Empire possesses a total of 12 main battleships of this caliber, and the next-generation "Coconut City" class (Note: Batavia, also known as Jakarta) is already under construction, highlighting the vast disparity in strength between the two sides.

The advantage of the Japanese Navy lies in the fact that all of its warships are new warships built in Britain in recent years. They are fast, have strong firepower, and can reach a maximum speed of 18 knots, giving them a clear speed advantage.

The main warships of the Great Chu Empire had thick armor, large caliber, long range, and large numbers. Although their maximum speed could only reach 16 knots, they were at a disadvantage in seizing the initiative in naval battles.

But don't forget, the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire also has a large number of heavy cruisers, with a top speed of 21 knots and extremely fierce firepower.

The two working together can completely control the naval power of Fusang.

When the new "Coconut City" class all-heavy-gun main battleship makes its dazzling debut, with a top speed of 19.5 knots, it will have a completely overwhelming advantage.

Compared to the two maritime powers of Chu and Japan, Tsarist Russia's naval power in the Far East was far inferior.

Tsarist Russia had two fleets in the Far East: the Siberian Flotilla, based in Vladivostok, and the First Pacific Squadron of the Baltic Fleet, stationed in Port Arthur.

Although it has a large number of ships, totaling 46, they are all old ships from one or two decades ago, with only three armored ships reaching the level of the old-fashioned "Zhen" class ironclad ships.

The others were mostly heavy cruisers, cruisers, and destroyers, not the main warships for naval battles.

With outdated technology and poor maintenance, its overall combat capability is only comparable to the fleets of the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire in its overseas governorates, such as the Central American Fleet, the Red Sea Fleet, or the Atlantic Fleet.

These Chu Royal Navy detachments, each with at least two old-style main ironclad warships, were fully capable of competing with and rivaling the Russian First Pacific Fleet.

Throughout the entire Russian Royal Navy

Of the six new battleships being built intensively in the Baltic Sea, only one has been completed and commissioned, and the other has been launched for outfitting.

The remaining two new battleships are still under construction in the shipyard, one is 55% complete and the other is 16% complete, and they are still a long way from being launched and commissioned.

The last two ships in the plan have not yet received funding and are still in the early stages.

Overall

The Japanese navy had planned ahead, and the last of the Shikishima-class battleships, the Mikasa, had already been completed and launched on November 8, 1900, after completing sea trials in Southampton, England.

It arrived in Yokosuka on May 18, 1902, joined the Japanese Navy, completed the assembly of four capital ships, and was ready for war.

From a paper strength perspective

The Japanese navy undoubtedly had a great advantage. The new warships built with the indemnity funds from the First Sino-Japanese War were technologically advanced, with uniform main gun calibers, high speed, and powerful firepower.

As long as no major mistakes are made when facing the Russian navy, the odds of winning are over 70%.

It should be understood that the advantage of naval power is not easy to regain. Even if the Baltic Shipyards of Tsarist Russia were to work overtime and do everything in their power to bring the new ships out of the dock, it would still be two years away.

The Russian Navy was in a predicament where a slow and ineffective response was not enough.

Without foresight, when faced with this urgent need, all one can do is shrug and express helplessness.

The same situation would be completely different if it were applied to the Royal Army of the Great Chu Empire.

With the overwhelming strength of the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire, it has an overwhelming advantage over the Navy of Fusang. Even if they had a few more guts, they would not dare to challenge the prestige of the Royal Navy of the Empire.

Therefore

After Britain, the United States, and France abolished the Nagasaki concession, the State of Chu remained unmoved. This left the State of Fusang feeling ashamed, angry, and helpless, and they could only repeatedly send conciliatory messages through Britain, begging for mercy.

The Great Chu Empire ignored this, deliberately humiliating the Japanese. (End of Chapter)