As the name suggests, a ship review is a maritime military parade held by a country. On the one hand, it allows the domestic people to feel the strength of the country and inspires the fighting spirit of the military and civilians. It can also express strategic deterrence intentions to foreign countries.
Precisely because of its many functions, since the era of sailing battleships, the world's major maritime powers have held various ship reviews. The empire on which the sun never sets, which conquers the world with its navy, is naturally the best at this. Queen Elizabeth has inspected the flourishing Royal Navy many times.
Now that the world situation is unstable and it coincides with the succession of the new king, the British hope to hold a grand ship review to inspire the self-confidence of the domestic people and declare the power of the Royal Navy to the world.
And...the sun never sets on the Empire!
Zhou Changfeng was naturally disdainful of this. He muttered: "It's just the afterglow of the empire. In a few decades, the British Navy will only have a few small sampans left..."
But no matter what, at least the Ming Dynasty still attaches great importance to this.
The British enthusiastically sent an invitation to the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Rites, hoping that the Ming Navy could also send warships to participate in the ship review, and asked the Ming Emperor to order an imperial envoy to participate in the review.
Obviously, the British wanted to ease the tense relations caused by the border war, show off their martial arts, and give the Ming Dynasty a little shock.
"Of course you have to go. As for the size, old and new, this is a matter for the cabinet and the military to discuss."
The emperor set the tone from the beginning. At this point, there was no objection from the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. The most important thing was which ship to send.
In the Wenhua Hall, in addition to cabinet ministers, several naval generals including Xu Zhanming were present at the meeting today.
As the sun gradually rises, the temperature also slowly rises, but the air conditioner here is not turned on, only the large ceiling fan above is spinning slowly.
"The British had sent invitations to other countries several days ago. The United States planned to send the battleship USS New York, and France planned to send the battleship USS Dunkirk. Italy...rejected the invitation."
As a minister of national defense, Lin Xi first explained the known information straight to the point. As for other small countries, there seemed to be no need to mention it.
"New York? If I remember correctly, it was an old ship from more than 20 years ago, right?" someone asked.
"Yes, the New York class is an old ship with a displacement of 30,000 tons and a 356mm gun. The Americans don't give it much face." Another vice admiral said with a smile.
Xu Zhanming raised his hand and waved, "You can't say that, like the French do, they have to pull over their latest gadget to show off to the Germans? They just want to show off to the Germans."
The Dunkirk-class battleship is a cutting-edge battleship that the French entered service last year. However, although the French call it a battleship, its original intention when designing it was more like a battlecruiser.
Its imaginary enemy is not the battleships of other countries, but the German pocket battleships and cruisers of other countries.
"Then let's make a compromise and send the Zhenguan or Yonghui."
"I think it's okay."
"It's too mediocre!" Li Guangyuan, a bachelor of Huagaidian and a minister of finance, waved his hands repeatedly. "You might as well be bolder this time and send the latest big ship. In this kind of foreign affairs and politics, what you need is that kind of aura."
He thought for a while and then asked: "Hey, it shouldn't involve confidentiality, right? Is there any new technology that should not be known to other countries?"
A somewhat helpless Xu Zhanming said reluctantly: "Yes, but internally, the British can't see it."
The so-called "latest big ship" naturally refers to the Longshuo, so everyone debated for a while, and finally decided to send the Longshuo. It was definitely a good choice.
And it should also be able to confuse the British to a certain extent - the Ming people generally do not send new things out to show off, so this means that the Ming Navy has already started building new battleships after the Long Shuo, and may have even been launched?
At this time, Xu Zhanming looked at the cabinet ministers present and said, "By the way, it's a rare occasion for me to come here. Let me ask you something."
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Minister Yu Shenhua had just packed up several documents on the table and was about to get up and leave. He sat down after hearing this and asked, "Is there anything important for the Navy?"
Xu Zhanming was also unambiguous and asked directly: "Well... the embassy has heard that the new torpedoes that the Germans are tinkering with have already taken shape. Can Mr. Yu try to buy a few of them?"
The term "adult" was only widely used to address high-ranking officials from the Yuan Dynasty. After that, it gradually spread, and officials as big as sesame seeds were also called this way. However, after the constitutional government, this kind of flattering name was no longer popular among the people. To this day, calling officials "sir" is either a sign of respect or being arrogant.
Co-author: Did you fall in love with someone else’s treasure and then ask me to be your lobbyist?
Yu Shenhua stretched out his index finger and tapped it on the table, and said with a smile: "Well, Xu Zhanming, you also said that this is a new thing, how can it be so easy to do? Isn't this making things difficult for us?"
"Hey, this is indeed a fun thing. Whether it can be successful is one thing. Whether it is tried is another matter."
"Understood, let's discuss it in detail later."
The navies of various countries around the world have not given up on improving their own torpedoes. The steam gas torpedoes currently in use produce bubbles due to the exhaust air, so the trajectory is very obvious. In actual combat, it is easy for the opponent to detect it early and avoid it in time.
Therefore, various countries have put a lot of effort into other power methods. The Germans are unique in the world in electric torpedoes. They have already put electric torpedoes into use as early as the end of the European War. Now they have made considerable achievements in hydrogen peroxide torpedoes.
The initial research direction of the Ming Dynasty was oxygen torpedoes. Traditional thermodynamic torpedoes use compressed air as the oxidant, but as we all know, oxygen only accounts for 21% of air, and the remaining nitrogen does not participate in the reaction. A large number of bubbles will be produced when the torpedo is discharged. If it is used instead With pure oxygen, wouldn’t the thermal efficiency be greatly increased?
But the Navy soon gave up research on using liquid pure oxygen to replace compressed air - it would be too dangerous and unstable without it.
Due to its own characteristics, electric torpedoes have smaller range, speed, and power than traditional torpedoes.
Although the performance of the Type 35 electric torpedoes equipped by the Ming army is acceptable, except for the submarine force, the surface ship force still does not like to use them.
So the only way left was to use hydrogen peroxide torpedoes. This thing is quite complex and very difficult to develop. After several years of hard work, there were still several difficulties that had not been overcome. So after hearing that the Germans seemed to have achieved results, The Navy was wondering whether it should produce a few finished products for reference.
After leaving the Wenhua Hall, several naval generals walked and chatted. The chief officer of the Second Battle Fleet of the Nanyang Fleet complained: "Come to think of it, are the Germans really planning to go on like this? A fleet of this size cannot even exist. It doesn’t count.”
Xu Zhanming muttered: "It's hard to say. Just a few small battleships and submarines are too weak. At least a few battleships must be kept in the port. In this way, part of the British navy can be contained."
Although the German Society does not recognize and implement the Versailles Peace Treaty and is not subject to the restriction that "the navy is prohibited from equipping dreadnoughts and can only have offshore defense ships", they have learned the lessons of the European War and do not seem to intend to invest too much in the navy?
The full name of the German Navy is Arbeiterinmarine, which means workers' navy, and the ship number is generally AMS; in comparison, the former German Imperial Navy was called Kaiserlichemarine, which means the Emperor's Navy.
What’s interesting is that the word Arbeiterin is divided into feminine and masculine in German. Arbeiter is a male worker and Arbeiterin is a female worker. In other words, the literal translation is actually the female worker navy. Of course, Chinese people generally don’t study it carefully.
Unlike the British who like to refer to battleships as "she", the fierce and masculine Germans have always used the masculine and neutral "er" or "es" to refer to battleships. As a result, the German Navy sailors also Naturally, it became popular to call one's battleship "sie".
The current thinking of the Germans in naval construction is simply "fly, dive and fast":
Using medium-sized and large submarines as the main ocean-going combat weapons, it launched a war against Britain, cut off, blocked and reduced the transportation of strategic materials, and turned the British Empire into an isolated island.
At the same time, naval shore-based aviation, small submarines, and speedboats cooperate with each other to conduct offshore defense operations to delay and hinder the enemy navy's coastal bombardment or landing operations.
But what is not known to the outside world is that the Germans have now begun building new battlecruisers and battleships. Their mission is to penetrate deep into the Atlantic and attack Britain's sea lines of communication.
Both classes of warships are designed to have a maximum speed of more than 30 knots and a range of more than 9,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 18 knots. Their tactic was to suddenly and quietly leave port, quickly cross the North Sea at a speed of 30 knots, and break through the Royal Navy's blockade.
Once they are washed into the Atlantic Ocean, the sky is as high as birds can fly, and the sea is as wide as fish can leap, and the British will be in dire straits.
Although the Royal Navy is large in scale, it does not have many high-speed battleships - the two sisters "Reputation" and "Counterattack" can run up to 29 knots, the "Hood" has been modified to become heavier, so its speed has also dropped to 29 knots, and the "George V" "World" actually only has 28 verses.
Therefore, the British could only carefully plan the hunt, and if they missed it, they would be quickly escaped by the opponent. During this period, the Germans could freely massacre all merchant ships on the route.
If they knew that the Germans had a plan that was already in progress, the Ming Navy would naturally have a small celebration - with such a distant response, the British would not be able to look at each other from head to tail, so how could they have any spare time to take care of the Nanyang region?
On the same day, a telegram from the Naval Division of the Ministry of War was sent to the Hangzhou Naval Base, requiring the battleship Longshuo to suspend subsequent routine training arrangements and wait for instructions.
The next morning, Qixia Prison.
Zhou Changfeng, who had been spanked, tried to eat in the cafeteria at noon yesterday, but failed in the end. Therefore, Mu Yu brought him the two meals last night and this morning.
At this time, a corporal came over with a list and shouted: "D number 327, your relatives will come to visit later, please come with us."
Zhou Changfeng, who didn't know why, asked in confusion: "Usually, visits to prisons are not allowed until the end of the month. Isn't this the middle of the month?"
Naturally, the few military policemen who came to deliver the order couldn't answer and asked him to leave quickly, so Zhou Changfeng slowly moved to the edge of the bed and slowly got off the ground.
Then, he was helped all the way to the visiting room, but the distance of a hundred steps seemed farther than several miles of mountain road.
One can imagine how surprised Xia Xiaoshi was when she saw such a scene. She stood up subconsciously and said nervously: "First... sir, what are you..."
"It's okay, I just got hit early."
"Is the food and accommodation okay here?"
"Definitely. I feel like I'm going to gain a few pounds."
Whether it's to maintain self-esteem or to prevent your lover from worrying, Zhou Changfeng said it calmly, but he didn't realize that only those who have truly experienced it can understand the discomfort and pain involved.
However, he seemed to have forgotten one special feature, which was that in the eyes of Xia Xiaoshi, a teacher, his words were typical of a harsh mouth.
Therefore, Xia Xiaoshi felt that her initial distress suddenly faded a little, and she became a little more gloating.
These days, she had been thinking about coming to visit, so she begged in every possible way, and Xia Bing reluctantly agreed to go through the back door, but only on the days of early visits.
She curled her lips and said: "Students who act unscrupulously will be beaten with a ruler, and soldiers who exceed the rules will be beaten with a military stick. Sir, you have been punished well, and you should not commit any trouble again in the future."
"That's natural."
"I'll wait for you to come out..."
"Well, don't worry."
The short visit ended quickly, and Xia Xiaoshi left a large bag of pastries and snacks before leaving.
When the smug Zhou Changfeng returned to the cell carrying the basket, Mu Yu's eyes immediately lit up.
However, Zhou Changfeng waved his hand and said seriously: "Airplanes are very sensitive to load capacity. If you eat too much of these high-sugar and high-oil foods, you will gain weight, so..."
Mu Yu, who was about to cry but had no tears, threatened to sever ties with him after being released from prison and did not agree with Chuang Zhiyi.
"Classmate? Which classmate?"
"prison!"
But his good day didn't even last a full day. He received the notice early the next morning.
Yuan Huai, who came to the door in person, glanced at the cell, and then waved his hand to signal Zhou Changfeng not to stand up so as not to affect the injury.
"It's like this. There's probably something going on at the Navy that requires your participation, Commander Zhou. I guess you'll have to go tomorrow or the day after."
Oh? Escape early?
Zhou Changfeng secretly applauded and asked: "Is it a commutation or parole?"
"No, it's execution outside prison."
"..."
Recently, the trial-produced Type 36 light tank has been finalized and put into mass production. It is officially called the "Type 37 guerrilla fighting vehicle."
The heavy tanks that took four years of research and development have finally come to fruition. Wuhan Yangyue Company and Yanjing National First Heavy Machinery Group have trial-produced prototypes of their respective plans and will soon conduct comparative tests at the Laizhou Proving Ground. The results of the competition will be Decide who will win in the end.
At first glance this seems to be the concern of the Army, what does it have to do with the Navy?
The reason is that there are different opinions within the Ming Navy - some believe that tanks suitable for landing operations should be light, easy to transport, and even floatable; others insist that the landing force lacks heavy weapons and must have big tanks with strong armor and powerful artillery as solid support. point, otherwise the landing troops are likely to be driven into the sea by a wave of counterattacks from the opponent.
It's empty talk. Since both parties have their own opinions, they can only build a few prototype cars for actual testing.
Therefore, not only Zhou Changfeng was ordered to participate in the assessment, but Yan Chenwu, who was in the Second Marine Regiment of the Nanyang Fleet, also received the same order.
(End of chapter)
