Chapter 440: The age of armored battleships is upon us

近 The rainstorm lasted nearly half a month and finally ended in the sky
The accumulated clouds gradually dissipated.
The vast surface of the South Atlantic Ocean, the two fleets with large disparities, face each other quietly across a distance of several nautical miles.
In the northern part of Erhai Lake, a fleet of dark black smoke, consisting of four large iron armored ships and more than ten auxiliary ships, belongs to the naval fleet of the Brazilian Republic.
本土 The navy's indigenous fleet of the Republic of Brazil is a fleet formed on the basis of the Atlantic fleet of the former Brazilian empire navy.
巴西 In 1879, Brazil's North-South split. At that time, the Brazilian Republican government realized the maritime threats from the northern regime and the Han Navy, and began to adopt new warships to strengthen its maritime defense.
In 1885, two new battleships, Riachuelo and Achuelo, which were ordered from SamudaBrothers shipyard in England, returned to the port of Rio de Janeiro via London, England.
Riachuelo and Achuelo armored cruisers are of the same class, with a displacement of 5,000 tons and a length of 93 meters. 17.16 meters wide, 5.60 meters draught, installed horsepower of 4,500 horsepower, 16 knots at atmospheric pressure, cruise at 10 knots, and a cruising range of 6000 nautical miles.
Both ships are equipped with four 234mm breech guns; 5.6 140mm 30-times single-mounted guns, 12 37mm rapid-fire machine guns, and five 356mm underwater torpedo tubes.
At the same time, the installation of composite armor protection on decks, turrets, and command towers made the Riachuelo and Achuelo armored cruisers more artillery and speed advantages when conducting battles with old-fashioned iron-shell warships.
末 In the late 1880s, when many countries relying on outsourced channels to build their naval fleets saw a row of two or three thousand ton iron armored ships complacent in the port,
In the European continent, the standards of major naval battleships of major powers have been raised from 3,000 to 5,000 tons to over 8,000 tons.
The battleship construction mode and main weapons and equipment also evolved from the combination of iron shell armored ships and breech guns to the age of combining armored warships with main guns and rapid-fire guns.
海军 The strength of our navy urgently needs to be improved, and the technological update of European naval warships is accelerating. The government of the Republic of Brazil, after acquiring two new armored cruisers, ordered another large cruiser in 1885.
The cruiser Aquitaban was included in the Navy of the Republic of Brazil in 1887, and in 1888, served as the flagship of the Brazilian native fleet. Built by British company SamudaBrothers,
The cost is 345,000 pounds, which is about 1.24 million kuping silver.
The standard displacement is 5020 tons, the full-load displacement is 5540, the length of the ship is 85 meters), the width is 15.8 meters, the atmospheric pressure speed is 15.8 knots, the long-range cruising is performed at a speed of 10 knots, the cruising range is 7,200 kilometers, and 297 people are deployed.
The cruiser Aquitaban is equipped with two twin 234mm turret guns, four 40mm 30x single-shot guns, 13 Hatchikas 37mm rapid-fire guns, and five 356mm underwater torpedo tubes.
Three new armored cruisers with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons and a self-made iron armored ship with a standard displacement of 4,000 tons form the backbone of the maritime defense of the Brazilian Republic Navy.
He raised his binoculars, stared at several mighty armored battleships, and looked back at his three large and two small warships.
Xu Zhixuan, who was the captain of the 3500-ton Vanguard armored cruiser, couldn't help but feel envious of his naval counterparts in the Brazilian Republic.
巴西 During the Paraguayan War of 1868, the Brazilian Navy had four iron armored ships, and the comprehensive ranking of naval strength ranked Brazil 16th in the world.
On the eve of the separation of North and South Brazil in 1879, the total tonnage of the Brazilian Empire and Navy increased to 39,000 tons.
The comprehensive strength ranking of the Navy has been raised to 13th in the world.
期间 And during the decade after the North-South regime split,
Through the sale of minerals, railways and other interests to raise funds to order warships, the total tonnage of the warships owned by the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire has increased to 50,000 tons. Based solely on the tonnage of naval ships, the total number of warships owned by the north and south of Brazil It is already close to Japan, the emerging naval power in East Asia.
In contrast, in the Han country, although the total tonnage of the navy reached 52,000 tons and the tonnage of ships over 2,000 tons was close to 35,000 tons, there were only two core warships with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons, and the total displacement was less than 2,000 tons. The total number reached 12 Due to the poor performance of ocean shipping and insufficient firepower output of the Yongxing-class light cruisers, it is difficult to achieve the expected level of operations in the main fleet's ocean operations.
Because of the national defense strategy of the main land and sea in the early stage, although the Han navy started early, it has not enjoyed the dividends of the leapfrog development of the national economy. After all, compared with the land area and resources controlled by the trilateral control of the Han, the Republic of Brazil, and the Brazilian Empire, Say,
The Han country occupies about 80% of the plains and woodlands of La Plata. The southern two states that originally belonged to the Brazilian Empire, Uruguay, the entire territory of Argentina, and the southern part of Chile were unified under a single regime.
Two decades ago, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, known as the top three South American countries, have the ability to buy ships and conduct South American naval arms races by relying on only one country. The land area spans the three countries and controls them. With more resources, manpower, and technology than the three countries alone, if the Han country invests the same proportion of funds, manpower, and material resources, there is no reason for the Han Navy to maintain only this level.
I understand the necessity of implementing land-based subordination at the current stage of the country, but as a naval officer, Xu Zhixuan still hopes that during his service, he can see the South Korean navy as the South American water supremacy and cruise the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The whistle of the whistle is long, and several battleships flying the Red Dragon Banner are lined up in a battle queue, galloping from the southern waters.
The chimneys are lined up, and the artillery is amazing! Seeing the arrival of the main battleship of Han, the navy of the Republic of Brazil was the first to admit defeat.
The flagship armored cruiser Aquedaban in the middle of the queue raised a signal flag, slowly turned and sailed north to get an evacuation signal. More than ten other ships of different sizes stopped facing each other and turned their bows to the north.
"Cousin Shu, should you hang behind them and continue to follow?"
I saw the warships on the opposite side turning around in turn, and Shen Shouchang, the deputy captain and sailor of the Pioneer, suggested.
"Forget it, further north is the waters controlled by the Republic of Brazil, approaching the door of others directly, peeping at the information of the other ship, provocation means too much."
Xu Zhixuan paused and decided: "The purpose of our sailing this time is to collect the hydrological conditions in the offshore waters of the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Now we have not only completed the task, but also fortunately encountered the other navy's new warships to go out to the sea and got some relevant enemy The first-hand information on the water performance of the main battleship of the army was considered to have exceeded its mission.
I took the risk of angering the navy of the Republic of Brazil and continued to follow, and it was a little bit worth the loss.
Brother Shouchang, there are still many opportunities to understand the performance of the other warships in the future, so you don't have to worry about this time. "
"The opportunities for the main force of the Republic of Brazil's naval fleet are rare. Today, I failed to seize the opportunity and carefully explore and speculate about the water performance of the armored cruisers of the Republic of Brazil's navy, but it is a pity."
Shen Shouchang expressed his regrets and said, "However, today I have glimpsed the truth about the naval fleet of the Brazilian Republic. In particular, it is generally speculated that the speed performance of the second-class cruiser built by the Republic of Brazil is also very rewarding. "
"Thin dead camels are larger than horses. The Republic of Brazil has inherited the main territory and industrial base of the Brazilian Empire. It makes sense that they can build iron armored ships with a standard displacement of 4,000 tons."
"Yes, the Brazilian empire was the earliest independent country in South America. They industrialized and built earlier than other countries. If it had not been hit by the North-South split, maybe they would have given them a few more years and could really complete the initial industrial construction. . "
"His hero, my hate, the better the development of the Republic of Brazil and the Brazilian Empire, the worse the national strategy of the Empire in the future."
Thinking of the threat behind the Republic of Brazil's self-built iron armored ship, Xu Zhixuan put down the monoscope in his hand and turned to Shen Shouchang and instructed: "Brother Shouchang, after returning to shore today, you will be temporarily responsible for the management of the warship I plan to use the evening time to sort out and compile the information detected today, and then present it to the Navy Department and the Naval Staff Headquarters tomorrow morning. I hope that General Chen and General Li of the two headquarters will see the reported information. Can arouse their attention and vigilance against the Navy of the Republic of Brazil. "
"Cousin Shu rest assured that with me on board, there will be no problems at night." ............
On the evening of the next day, Chen Sen, Chief of the Navy, and Li Han, Chief of the Staff of the Navy, took the envelope presented by Xu Zhixuan, and gathered information about the navy of the Brazilian Republic, and came to the palace together.
"The Admiral Mandel, the first composite armored cruiser of the Republic of Brazil, started construction at the Rio de Janeiro shipyard in April 1884 and was completed on January 10, 1889. It has a normal displacement of 4,000 tons and a full-load displacement of 4,500 tons. It is 95 meters long and wide 14 meters, maximum draught 7.06 meters, minimum draught 6.20 meters. Equipped with two steam engines, power 7000 horsepower, 17 knots at atmospheric pressure.
The is equipped with four 152mm breech guns, two 120mm 30x caliber single-mounted guns, and eight 47mm rapid-fire machine guns. 5 underwater torpedo tubes ...
The puppet deck was 41 mm thick and the gun shield was 51 mm thick.
建造 It took almost five years to complete the construction, with a cost of 740,000 pounds, equivalent to 3 million two flat silver. "
After reading the overall performance information of the self-built armored cruiser of the Republic of Brazil, Li Mingyuan laughed: "The Rio de Janeiro shipyard has a good technical reserve. Although it cost 740,000 pounds, it was able to build a 4000-ton armored cruiser on its own. An amazing thing. "
"Your Majesty, the three major local shipyards have absorbed the construction experience of pioneer-class armored cruisers and Dingyuan-class battleships, and already have the ability to build 5,000-ton armored cruisers on their own. The Navy Department and the Naval Staff hope to obtain the approval of His Majesty for the Empire. The Navy has added two more 5,000-ton armored cruisers to maintain its absolute superiority over the Navy of the Republic of Brazil. "
森 Chen Sen and Li Han both seemed to have discussed in advance, and they both asked out loud.
"Navy technology is developing and changing too fast. Six years ago, the 3500 ton iron armored ship could be used as the main warship. Now according to the standards of Western powers, the 5000 to 6000 ton iron armored ship can only belong to the ranks of second class cruisers. Although the two Dingyuan-class iron armored ships were called battleships at the beginning of construction, they will not be qualified as battleships if they remain in the next few years. "
In the 1890s, naval warships developed along the direction of armoring and large-scale development, especially between 1890 and 1900. Warships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons were launched one after another, not only British, French, Russian, and German. When the navies of the European powers are in service with 10,000-ton armored warships, even the later Japanese navy has ordered several 10,000-ton armored warships.
When the armored warship combination of armor and rapid-fire guns quickly became the mainstream of the sea, the iron armored ships represented by iron shells and old-fashioned guns were facing the fate of being quickly eliminated. Four or five years later, when the decision was made that the Far East hegemony would take over the fate. When the naval battle broke out, the Zhenyuan-class iron armored ships of the same class as the Chaoyang and Liming of the Han Navy were built only ten years ago, but they have also begun to lag behind the times.
Purchased a full set of design drawings, technical patents, and learned the technical experience of the other shipyard. In order to lay the foundation for local shipbuilding, the Han country spent a lot of money and mobilized the scarce technical talents to learn ship design and construction technology.
After ten years of introduction and ten years of study, more than two decades have passed. Based on German technology, the three major domestic shipyards in China have initially established an overall ship building system and trained a number of ship designs, Build talent.
However, the Germans originally had shortcomings and defects in the construction of warships. Based on the German technology and based on the blueprint, the ship technology mastered by the Han country also had some shortcomings. The Yongxing-class light cruiser had a slow speed and ocean performance. Poor is a typical manifestation of this shortcoming.
Therefore, after recognizing the shortcomings and deficiencies of local ship technology, Li Mingyuan did not agree to continue the aggressive autonomous armored cruiser construction plan along the German technical route.
After the completion of the construction of the 3500-ton Vanguard armored cruiser, Li Mingyuan was only allowed to carry out the construction plan of the shrink-type warship with a displacement of 2400 tons according to the design drawings and technical markings of the Vanguard armored cruiser, which was based on this consideration.
The implementation of an autonomous construction plan for a 5000-ton armored cruiser is not mature, and according to the development of the surrounding countries in the next few years, such as Paraguay, the Republic of Brazil, and Chile,
The large capital investment, time-consuming, and slow effect of constructing a 5000-ton iron armored ship by itself is far less favorable than ordering more mature warships from other countries.
For the long-term planning of the Han Navy, Li Mingyuan had an early plan in his mind. In the next five to ten years, he will still implement the naval development policy of ordering and introducing externally, digesting shipbuilding technology and supplementing local self-building.
For the problems reflected by Chen Sen and Li Han,
Gong Ze replaced the way to increase the number of channels for ordering warships to improve and improve the level of local shipbuilding technology.
"The difficulty of building armored warships is not the same as the difficulty of building iron armored ships. In order to complete the construction of Admiral Mandel, the Republic of Brazil spent nearly five years and spent three times the funding of an armored cruiser of the same type.
The three major domestic shipyards have experience in building 2,400-ton armored cruisers. The construction time and cost of the armored cruisers of the same standard should be shorter than those of the Republic of Brazil. However, the three major domestic shipbuilding technologies are from Germany. German armored cruisers are equipped with Disadvantages and shortcomings of warships also exist in the warships built by local shipyards.
Therefore, in addition to absorbing and digesting German shipbuilding technology, the navy should also try to expand the channels for ship purchases and contact more shipbuilders in Britain, France, Austria-Hungary and other countries.
For example, the United Kingdom, Britain ’s dominance in South America was provoked by the United States, and the current relationship between the imperial government and the United Kingdom is in a relatively close stage. Then, using this stage, the two governments ’rare peace period, more people are moving around to see if they can Can't figure out a way to order one or two mature armored cruisers from the British side. "
Li Mingyuan sat in the top position and smiled and advised the two of them: "You don't need to worry about the cost of ship purchases. After you come up with a suitable plan for ship purchases, you can come up with it and submit it to the Navy Department and the Navy Staff. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Finance coordinated the solution. "
His Majesty "It is still thoughtful of His Majesty. After His Majesty said so, President Li and I straightened out the idea. After returning, the Navy Department and the Naval Staff will come up with a ship purchase plan to satisfy His Majesty as soon as possible."
"The order price of warships is a bit high, but it is not tolerant to the design drawings and technical patents of warship construction. After the plan for ordering warships is determined, it is best to buy them in conjunction with the design drawings and related technical patents of the warship. ~ EbookFREE.me ~ And also try to get the consent of the other shipyard, and let them promise to start construction of an armored cruiser in the country. Even if the construction cost is twice as high as the equivalent warship, I can support you to agree. "
His Majesty "With the support of His Majesty, President Li and I are at the bottom of my heart. His Majesty is assured that the Admiralty and the Chief of Staff must seriously complete the tasks delivered by His Majesty and will not disappoint His Majesty and the people.
森 Chen Sen did not expect that Li Mingyuan was more thoughtful than the two of them thought. The problems that the two had not noticed before were raised by Li Mingyuan. Therefore, after hearing Li Mingyuan's suggestion, he nodded again and again.
"The preparation of ordering warships needs to be prepared as early as possible. The domestic situation in Paraguay is grim. I have not fully grasped whether Paraguay's recent trend will affect the relationship between the mainland and the United Kingdom. Plan, lest night long dreams. "
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"In the Imperial Navy, the number of large warships with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons is insufficient. The number of warships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons can temporarily meet the defense requirements of local offshore and inland waters.
Therefore, the Yongxing-class light cruisers with a displacement of 1350 tons can temporarily suspend the construction plan. The twelve Yongxing-class light cruisers currently under the name of the Navy, except those stationed overseas to perform alert and defense tasks, are assigned to the offshore alert fleet. No longer assigned responsibility for ocean operations. ".........
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