On November 11, 1910, a mighty battle cruiser, escorted by two British cruisers from Gibraltar, appeared off the coast of Piraeus.

The Greek people, who had already received the news, woke up and stood on the pier and looked forward to it, until the loud whistle spread far from the sea, and the Greek and British flags flying high on the mast of the battleship appeared in the crowd. In front of them, everyone shouted at the warship.

Together with Sophie, Constantine came to Greece on behalf of the royal family to welcome the battlecruiser Trikupis.

The latest type of warship purchased by Greece from the United Kingdom at a high price was named "Trikupis", just to commemorate the former Greek Prime Minister with outstanding political achievements, who was determined to reform and develop industry and commerce during his reign. And successfully led Greece to defeat the old enemy Ottoman.

After the "Trikupis" is commissioned, it will also become the new flagship of the Greek Navy.

Amid the enthusiastic cheers of everyone, the 17,000-ton battle cruiser "Trikupis" was anchored off the pier of Piraeus Port.

Constantine raised his right hand between his eyebrows, and saw a rubber boat rowing towards the shore. Several Greek naval personnel boarded the land from the rubber boat. Constantine greeted him and gave the leader a Hug: "Congratulations, Commander Cantoriotis, now you finally have a decent flagship"

As for the other invincible-class warship built by the Athens Shipyard in Greece, due to the inexperience of the Athens Shipyard in building warships, it was suddenly commissioned to build a warship of more than 10,000 tons, even if it was dispatched by the United Kingdom. The main components are also purchased from the UK. The Athens Shipyard is basically only responsible for the construction and assembly of the hull. The construction process is still bumpy. .

Cantoriotis first took a step back, gave Constantine and Sophie a military salute, and said aloud, "Your Highness, the Greek Navy "Trikupis" is just entering service."

While the two were talking, several other navy personnel came to welcome the crowd. Soon everyone exclaimed. It turned out that the Greek people who came to the pier to greet the warship could take turns to visit the newest Greek navy ship with the largest displacement. , the most advanced warships.

After the greeting, Cantoriotis pointed to a young officer in a naval uniform behind him, and introduced to Constantine: "Your Highness, Crown Princess, this is Colonel Henry of the Royal Navy."

"In the future, Colonel Henry will accompany the ship to help the Greek navy crew familiarize themselves with this warship, and at the same time help train artillery."

In the current navy, without the assistance of electronic equipment, it is not an easy task to accurately hit the moving enemy warships with cannons on the vast sea.

Hearing this, Constantine shook hands with Captain Henry enthusiastically: "Thank you for your help, Captain Henry, how are you going to train our Greek sailors?"

The British officer named Henry gave the same salute and shook hands. As a member of the British Royal Navy, Henry naturally did not want to fall into his own prestige, and said confidently: "His Royal Highness, despite training the crew of the invincible-class battleship, yes It's a very complicated thing, but I'm still confident that I can train the Greek navy to be as elite as the British navy, after all, Greece also has a deep maritime tradition and there are very good seamen here."

Henry also gave a small compliment to Greece.

Constantine smiled. On the surface, the relationship between the two parties seemed to be very harmonious, which perfectly explained the friendship between Greece and Britain.

In fact, whether it was Constantine or Henry, everyone knew very well that the officers sent by the Royal Navy to the ships were not just out of kindness to help Greece.

The Invincible-class battlecruiser is currently one of the main battleships of the United Kingdom. It is also a member of the Invincible-class battlecruiser along with the British Navy's Invincible. It is no exaggeration to say that the equipment installed on it is the latest in the British Navy. crystallization of technology.

Britain's promise to sell the Greek Navy's Invincible-class battlecruisers was the result of a combination of factors.

In fact, according to the British side, after the Greek navy expressed their intention to buy warships, they planned to select two of the former dreadnoughts in active service in the British navy and sell them to Greece, just like the Germans sold the former dreadnoughts to the Ottoman Empire. It can also achieve the purpose of the Greek navy to balance the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea.

After the advent of the dreadnought, the British Empire had spent a lot of money before, and the former dreadnought, which was the largest in scale and firmly occupied the world's leading position in total tonnage, suddenly fell into an embarrassing situation.

The appearance of the dreadnought made the former dreadnought suddenly change from an absolute main warship to a dispensable humble character.

The role of the service of battleship is very simple and rude. It is for the main decisive battle, who controls the sea power, and pays attention to heavy armor and sharp artillery.

Its expected combat scenario is to be the absolute main force of the navy, lined up in battle lines, and have a showdown of cannons and giant ships on the sea.

Therefore, these former dreadnoughts are not comparable to full-heavy artillery battleships such as dreadnoughts in terms of firepower, and they have no advantages in armor and maneuverability.

Due to the slow movement of the former dreadnoughts, letting them do tasks such as reconnaissance, patrol, support, and vigilance is not comparable to cruisers and destroyers.

This is also the reason why the Greek Navy chooses the Invincible-class battlecruiser when the price of the Invincible-class and Dreadnought-class battleships is not much different~lightnovelpub.net~ The battlecruisers are all-rounders in naval battles and the main force in decisive battles? Even if the opponent is a dreadnought warship, in a short period of time, at least the invincible-level firepower will not fall, and it can barely do it; maritime reconnaissance, patrolling, vigilance, supporting one's own destroyer and cruiser formations, and even minelaying and merchant ship escort, such chores, Battlecruisers can do both.

Battlecruisers have the following advantages: those who can beat me can't catch up with me (dreadnoughts); those that can catch up with me (cruisers and destroyers) can't beat me.

This is why, from the navy to the government, from beginning to end, no one has mentioned the purchase of dreadnoughts.

And if the British Navy can sell the backward former dreadnoughts to Greece, it can not only solve the problem of a huge number of former dreadnoughts, but also allow the British Navy to return funds and compete with the Germans in naval competition, killing two birds with one stone.

However, Commander Cantoriotis was very firm. When the Greek navy purchased warships, it required the invincible-class battlecruisers in naval battles. The large number of former dreadnoughts in the British navy were not considered by the Greek navy at all.

And this Colonel Henry, who was sent to Greece by the British Navy, not only came to teach the Greek crew to be familiar with warships, but also infiltrated the Greek Navy and expanded the British influence in the Greek Navy.

As for the details, refer to the influence of the German Army in the Ottoman Empire.

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