A brief introduction to the Hongwu Type 1 battleship has been placed in front of the members of the Naval Armaments Committee.
It has a standard displacement of 18,500 tons and a full load displacement of 20,500 tons; it is 146 meters long, 26.8 meters wide, and has a draft of 8.75 meters. It is equipped with 12 Jiangnan C-type coal-fired boilers, three three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, and a main engine power of up to 22,000 Horsepower, 3 axes and 2 rudders are configured in parallel; the warship's maximum speed can reach 20 knots, and its endurance is as high as 9,500 nautical miles at an economical speed of 10 knots.
The warship's armament includes 12 280mm 45x caliber Jiangnan 280-Type 4 main guns, 6 twin turret layouts, 12 155mm 45x caliber secondary guns, and 18 single 50mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft/anti-torpedo boat guns , 6 450mm torpedo tubes.
In addition, in view of the increasing threat of airships, the Hongwu modified version 1 is also preparing to add 36 13mm anti-aircraft guns!
The main armor belt of the Hongwu modified version is 300 mm thick; it is equipped with three layers of armor deck, each layer is 25-30 mm thick; the armor of the command tower is 300 mm thick. All of the above armors use the latest case-hardened steel developed by Jiangnan Heavy Industries!
The ship has a full crew of 1,018 people, including 40 officers.
Although this battleship is modified based on the Hongwu Emperor class, it can actually be regarded as an epoch-making battleship! It is completely comparable to the Dreadnought-class in another timeline... Its appearance can wipe out the previous naval equipment advantages of the British Empire and the Ming Empire overnight.
Moreover, this battleship does not use much "black technology". It does not have an oil-fired boiler, a steam turbine, or a backpack turret. The only black technology is surface-hardened steel. Compared with the original old-fashioned armor, the bulletproof capability of surface-hardened steel has more than doubled. Therefore, the 300 mm armor modified by Hongwu is equivalent to the original 700 mm or more old-fashioned armor.
However, the "black technology" of surface-hardened armor steel alone cannot trouble France, Prussia, and Austria... The metallurgy of the Rakshasa Kingdom may be worse, but as long as the Ming Dynasty is willing to teach it, it is not a problem.
"Daozi," Zhuge Weiyi already understood Zhuge Weidao's thoughts, "Do you want France and the Rakshasa Kingdom to equal us and Great Britain in the navy?"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "Only when someone is chasing us can we have the motivation to work hard! And... we are not afraid of France and Rakshasa chasing us. First of all, we are not a European country and we are far away from the land of right and wrong. At worst, we can strictly guard the Strait of Malacca. Anyway, Batan Island and Bintan Island are now in our hands. If we build a few more forts and deploy some airships and torpedo boats, we will be foolproof.
Secondly, we still have something in our hands! Minister, our 20,000-ton battlecruiser should be out soon, right? "
Zhuge Weiyi nodded and said: "I'm not satisfied with what you said. In fact, the Design Institute of Jiangnan Heavy Industry and the Design Institute of the Ministry of Navy have already worked on several plans for the 20,000-ton battlecruiser. The hull was modified in Hongwu. Based on the basics, we then enlarged it, and then added oil-fired boilers, steam turbines, and piggy-back turrets. The number of main guns was reduced to 8. Now the oil-fired boilers and steam turbines have been used in Jiangnan Power Plant for almost a year. The land test of the turret is almost completed... If construction starts now, by the 11th year of Taiping, the 20,000-ton battle cruiser will be ready for sea trials. When this 20,000-ton battle cruiser is unveiled, Hongwu will change it. The armor and firepower of the 20,000-ton battle cruiser will be equivalent to the Hongwu modified Type 1. Although there are 4 fewer main guns, with the use of a backpack turret, the entire ship's 8 main guns can simultaneously target It fired on the left or right side... And after a 20,000-ton ship is equipped with a main engine of 75,000-80,000 horsepower, the speed will be more than 30 knots, while the Hongwu modified model can only reach 20 knots at most. .”
Zhuge Weidao continued what the old man said: "By Taiping 11, our 30,000-ton mass-produced battleship and 30,000-ton battle cruiser should have been designed, right?"
"Hahaha," Zhuge Weiyi laughed, "Absolutely. If everything goes well, by Taiping 13, these two new warships will be outfitted... Daozi, if your aircraft can be equipped with Taiping 13, If it reaches a level that can be put on a ship by 2018, the aircraft carrier developed based on the 20,000-ton battlecruiser hull can also be secretly built in Taiping 13, and sea trials can begin in Taiping 15."
Zhuge Weidao nodded and thought: "The 10 million tons navy is more of a bluff... If 10 million tons are on the dreadnought or pre-dreadnought ship, facing the mass production of 30,000 tons Battleships, 30,000-ton battle cruisers, and 20,000-ton fleet aircraft carriers are just a bunch of living targets. So the key to a world war is to use the right mass-produced capital ships at the right time!
If the mass-produced battleships are built too early, they will be out of date when the war begins. If they are built too late, they will not be ready for the war.
So...the key is to grasp the time to start the war! At the same time, it is also critical to induce opponents to waste limited financial resources on eliminating ship types. After all, no one’s money comes from strong winds, and no one can destroy the newly built fleet! "
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "The British can also build battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers that we can build... It's just a few years later than us. And these battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers The service life of cruisers and aircraft carriers is at least 20 to 30 years.
If there is no war, it does not matter whether it is three to five years earlier or three to five years later. These three to five years are our time window. To extend this time window as long as possible, we should force the British to spend more financial resources on the Hongwu modified type 1 and the 20,000-ton battle cruiser! "
Director of Naval Intelligence Li Tiezhu asked with a smile: "So you want to give France and Rakshasa a modified version of Hongwu? Let them challenge the British Empire's hegemony on the Western seas?"
"In fact, we can add an Arab Empire!" Zhuge Weidao said, "France can restore the glory of Western Rome, and Rakshasa has inherited the legal system of Eastern Rome and calls itself the Third Rome... If Egypt can After the collapse of the Turkish Empire, it developed into the Arab Empire. Wouldn’t the hegemony of the British Empire automatically end? By then, wouldn’t we be able to win without a fight?
The British army had no deterrent effect on France, the Rakshasa Kingdom, or even Egypt's Ali Pasha. What everyone really feared was the British Royal Navy. If we can export a type of warship that can greatly weaken Britain's maritime superiority, then France, Rakshasa, and Egypt will definitely take action... If these three countries realize Western Rome, Eastern Rome, and The revival of the Arab Empire, then the glory of the British Empire will be gone!
If the British Empire still wants to maintain their glory, it must immediately follow up and start building battleships similar to the Hongwu Kai-I on a large scale, and the number of built battleships cannot be less than the Hongwu Kai-I that Rakshasa, France and Ali Pasha may have. Sum! Even so, the British Empire could not guarantee that Rakshasa, France, and Egypt would not jump out to carve up the Ottoman Turkish Empire. "
After hearing Zhuge Weidao's plan of "holding fire from behind and winning without fighting", Zhuge Weiyi, Zhuge Weyong, Li Tiezhu, and Guan Tianpei all showed relaxed smiles... In fact, they don't really want to conquer the world. If you can win a big war without fighting, that would be great.
Zhuge Weiyi, the chief of naval staff, laughed at this time: "Taozi, the fire of France and Arabia can be held by the military advisers, but the fire of Rakshasa still has to be held by you personally. To untie the bell, you need the person who tied the bell! "
Zhuge Weidao nodded: "Okay, I'll just go... When will the Hongwu Type 1 modification be completed for sea trials?"
"It will definitely be too late this year," Zhuge Weiyi calculated. "The sea trials should be completed next summer... Daozi, I can promote you to the rank of general by then, and you will be the admiral of the European fleet." , take Grand Duchess Natalie with you, have a glorious tour of Europe, and how about promoting our Hongwu modified model?"
"Okay, it's settled!"
