Above the Pacific Ocean, dozens of columns of black smoke rose straight into the sky.
On the blue sea, dozens of armored giant ships separated from the rolling waves, moving their steel bodies. These Ming naval ships with powerful guns and strong ships were arranged in two rows and hung with the hunting and moving sun and moon flags. Between the two columns, there were twenty or thirty huge cargo ships and passenger ships. It was obvious at a glance that these passenger and cargo ships were temporarily recruited. They also hung the Ming Dynasty Navy flag with a blue background and a red sun and moon. Some Ming army infantrymen wearing green military uniforms and large military caps were holding their arms on the bows and sides of these civilian ships, pointing at the majestic ships escorting them, with young faces. Full of pride.
The Ming Navy ships escorting these civilian ships are all newly launched ships - the legendary "Ming Dumpling Ships"!
Although the industrial strength of Ming Dynasty has been ranked first in the world for many years, this does not mean that Ming Dynasty is the first in all industrial categories. The shipbuilding industry of Ming Dynasty is only the second in ten thousand years, and the United Kingdom has been the third for a long time. one! It was not until the past two years that major shipyard construction projects in various places promoted by Ming Dynasty's "Thousand Ships Plan" were completed and put into production that Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capacity surpassed that of Britain and became the first in the world.
The world's best shipbuilding ability, of course, must be the world's best "dumpling"!
However, you can't place this "dumpling" casually, and you can't place too many "backward dumplings", otherwise you will be eliminated in just a few times, which is not worthwhile. Therefore, in the early days of the war, the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Empire did not invest wildly in the Hero class, but built quite a lot of civilian ships. The reason why the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty was not as good as the British was that the shipping industry of the Ming Dynasty was not as good as the British. Therefore, the total tonnage of civilian ships maintained by the Ming Dynasty is also less than that of the United Kingdom.
And the role of civilian ships in a world war that requires the deployment of troops over long distances is quite huge!
Therefore, in the first two years after the war broke out, shipyards across the Ming Dynasty built a large number of "Nandao Ships", "Nanyang Ships" and "Nantan Tankers". Among them, the "Nandao Ship" is a passenger ship, which is the prototype of the six aircraft-carrying frigates.
"Nanyang liner" is a bulk carrier with a standard displacement of 15,000 tons and a full load of 25,000 tons. It is also divided into two types: fast Nanyang liner and slow-speed Nanyang liner. The maximum speed of the former can reach 23 knots, which can keep up with the activities of the main fleet. The latter's maximum speed is only 15 knots, so it can only transport cargo on a daily basis, but it is also indispensable!
"South Tanker" is, of course, a ship that transports oil. It is also divided into two types: fast and slow. The tonnage of standard row and full load is also similar to that of the "Nanyang Ship". Among them, slow-speed south tankers transport crude oil from Borneo, Sakhalin and Sumatra. Rapid South tankers transport refined oil products, including heavy oil, gasoline, diesel, aviation kerosene, etc. The speed of these fast tankers is also as high as 23 knots, which can fully keep up with the fleet. They are the "nanny" of the large fleet.
In addition to these three types of ships used to transport troops, cargo, and oil, the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry has also provided the Ming Navy with a large number of special ships with engineering, maintenance, medical, surveying, and communications capabilities in the past two years.
Although these ships are not combat ships, their significance to this war cannot be overemphasized.
And by the beginning of 1832, the batch of "dumpling ships" that had been put out for bidding and designed before the war finally began to be "produced" in large numbers!
Although the Ming Dynasty had built many hero-class, loyal king-class (including Shu Zhongwang), and emperor-class battleships before this, those battleships were only used for emergency emergencies and were not really used to compete with the British Empire for world hegemony. Although The performance of these "emergency ships" is also quite outstanding.
The real first-class dumpling ship of the Ming Dynasty is the Shihuang-class Emperor-class battleship with a standard displacement of 25,000 tons and a full displacement of 31,500 tons. The maximum speed is 27 knots. The orders prepared by the Ming Navy Ministry for this class of battleships are a dozen - —12 ships!
This is not over yet!
There is also a derivative ship of the Shihuang-class, which is the Guangdong-class aircraft carrier developed based on the hull of the Shihuang-class - this is a real fleet aircraft carrier with a straight-through deck and an angled deck!
The order given by the Ming Navy Ministry was for 8 ships!
In other words, the Ming Navy ordered a total of 20 warships and aircraft carriers based on the First Emperor class hull!
While the shipbuilding engineers of the Ming Dynasty were designing the "Shihuang" class, large battleships based on the 75,000-horsepower main engine system used by the Shihuang class had a standard displacement of up to 30,000 tons, a full-load displacement of 37,000 tons, and were equipped with 8-door double-mounted battleships. The development work of the "Da Zhou" class battleship with a 360 mm main gun and a speed of 25 knots was also started at the same time, and all design work was completed shortly after the design of the "Shi Huangdi" class was completed.
The first ship "Da Zhou", the second ship "Da Qin", and the third ship "Da Han" of the "Da Zhou" class battleship also completed sea trials in June 1832 and joined the Ming Navy respectively. Pacific Fleet, Southern Ocean Fleet and Western Fleet, and became the flagship of these three fleets!
The admirals of the Ming Navy's fleet in this era are really happy when it comes to the "flagship selection issue". Not long ago, they "played" with the Shihuang-class and Guangdong-class, and now they have changed to the "Da Zhou" class. The "Daming" class heavy battleship with a standard displacement of 35,000 tons and a full load displacement of 42,500 tons, equipped with eight twin 380mm main guns, has now completed the design. The first ship "Daming" and the second ship "Datang" The start date of the third ship "Da Sui" has been scheduled. In 24 months at most, the admirals of the three major fleets of the Ming Navy will have to change their flagships again. This will soon catch up with the rich N generation's change of vehicles. Speed!
And now, the Ming Navy formation escorting an entire division of the Ming Army's Southern Continent Expeditionary Corps to Pearl Harbor is composed of the battleship Daqin, the aircraft carrier Guangxi, and the "Kongming" with a standard discharge of 13,000 tons and a full discharge of 16,000 tons. and dozens of other ships, large and small, composed of ships.
All these ships, without exception, are brand new and are no more than one year old. They are dumpling ships that have just been commissioned.
Zhuge Weidao's admiral's flag is the admiral's flag, and it is now hung on the mast of the "Dazhou", fluttering. He went back to Ming Dynasty not long ago, firstly to attend the Chiefs of General Staff Meeting - Ming Dynasty is now in a state of war with eight countries including Britain, India, and the United States.
Of course Daming has to hold a meeting to discuss what to do next?
The conclusion of the meeting was, of course, to implement the battle plan to capture the Southern Continent, which is Australia, as soon as possible.
As long as this continent is captured, the Ming court will have an explanation for the people in the country. And after the people saw such great fruits of victory, they were definitely willing to continue to support the imperial court in the war. With the Ming Dynasty's industrial strength, as long as it has the support of the people, the Ming Dynasty will be able to fight no matter how large-scale the war is.
His second task was to greet his new flagship "Dazhou" battleship, the aircraft carrier Guangxi assigned to the Pacific Fleet, and other newly commissioned warships.
So at this moment, Zhuge Weidaozheng, Admiral Mu Zhongjun of the Ming Dynasty's Southern Continental Army, and Deputy Admiral Zheng Guoxian were standing side by side on the starboard deck of the battleship "Da Zhou", looking at the rough ocean in front of them, laughing loudly and talking about sending troops. The strategy of the southern continent...
In the eyes of the three of them, the time to conquer the southern continent is completely ripe!
(End of chapter)
