Zhu Jingyuan's inner thoughts are simple. This ship will be the world's first dreadnought ship, and its commemorative value is self-evident.
Even if it is difficult for her to form commercial value, she will find a way to preserve it.
Zhu Jingyuan also worked hard to add commercial value to her from the beginning of the design, striving to earn the money to support her by herself.
When he just retired, he should be in good condition and could be used to run the business activities he planned.
Ordinary people may not be able to use battleships for commercial activities, but they are the King of Food wearing a black gold crown!
After a few decades, when her hull condition failed, she was turned into a museum and sold tickets to provide for her retirement.
Facing Zhu Jingyuan's plan, the old emperor thought about it for several seconds in silence, and finally nodded:
"I think we can give it a try and let the Royal Passenger Line Company participate in the design later. You can continue talking..."
The scene immediately erupted again with a burst of suppressed sighs and discussions.
Although Zhu Jingyuan's previous reasoning was very clear, it was to deal with the experimental ship that might be decommissioned soon.
But the fact that the passenger ship company was involved in the design of the battleship also made everyone feel sad.
What happened to this world...
However, Zhu Jingyuan himself didn't think too much. After getting the old emperor's permission, he nodded in agreement.
He adjusted his mentality again, put on an expression as serious as possible, and continued to talk seriously:
“Next, it will no longer be this perfunctory and conservative design, but an extremely radical, ideal-goal-based, and vision-exploring design.
“While using all the same large-caliber main guns, the design of the warship itself must be comprehensively redesigned from the inside out.
“I have actually prepared a lot of specific design ideas and details, as well as the technologies that may be required for design and construction, and it’s impossible to explain them all on site.
After the meeting is over and the comprehensive design work officially begins, I will communicate directly and in detail with the departments corresponding to each function.
“Today’s on-site introduction is just to explain the concept and direction of the design to everyone, so that everyone knows what kind of ship we need to work hard to build.
"According to my vision, this kind of warship has a very obvious gap with previous warships, and it can be a separate new ship type.
"I'm going to call it a high-speed battleship."
Zhu Jingyuan's plan is to skip battlecruisers and traditional battleships and directly design the complete version of the dreadnought battleship - a high-speed battleship.
If Zhu Jingyuan's plan can be realized, there should be no battle cruiser type in this world.
Mature and complete battlecruisers can themselves be regarded as early high-speed battleships, such as the British battleship cruiser HMS Hood.
Maybe there will objectively be battlecruisers in this world, but they should be regarded as immature high-speed battleships.
This time Zhu Jingyuan himself spoke very seriously, but the audience did not react with any surprise.
What Zhu Jingyuan said was too general. It is impossible for personnel related to warship design and construction, as well as naval personnel, to directly imagine what a high-speed battleship is.
The only thing they could find that was really meaningful was the word "high speed", and battleships were automatically mapped to battleships.
Most of the original battleships in this world are still under 20 knots, and the latest Formidable class built by the UK is 18 knots.
The speed of the cruiser is only 23 knots.
So they all subconsciously thought that Zhu Jingyuan, the so-called high-speed battleship, might increase the speed of the battleship to the level of a cruiser at 23 knots.
Zhu Jingyuan on the stage, after a brief pause, began to introduce more details:
"The first is the hull design of the battleship. We need to design it with the goal of adapting to a speed of 30 knots, so that it can be worthy of the name of a high-speed battleship..."
As soon as these words were spoken, there were a lot of suppressed exclamations on the scene, including the old emperor.
This kid really dares to think!
Do you know how much power of engine is needed to push a 30-knot battleship?
A battleship with a speed of 30 knots was considered a high requirement in World War II, but in the current naval environment, it is too outrageous.
Zhu Jingyuan didn't wait for everyone's shock to completely pass, and then directly entered the tentative "interaction session":
“The most critical factor that determines the speed of a battleship is, of course, the efficiency of the power system she uses.
"According to the information I have learned so far, our Ming Dynasty's most powerful ship power system is enough to allow a 40,000-ton ship to run at 30 knots.
"But I'm not sure whether the information is reliable. I'd like to ask the engineers from the ship power manufacturer to confirm it."
This time, before Zhu Jingyuan finished speaking, the scene was completely in an uproar.
You not only want a speed of 30 knots, but also want to build a ship of 40,000 tons?
The largest battleship currently in service in the world has a tonnage of less than 20,000 tons!
The design of the No. 1 Dreadnought Ship, which was just started today, has an expected tonnage limit of only 24,000 tons.
If the emperor and many ministers and governor-level court officials were not present at the scene, the following people might have started shouting.
It's just that now these ministers and governors themselves have the urge to exclaim, but they are holding back a little because they are concerned about their image.
The people Zhu Jingyuan asked, the shopkeepers and craftsmen of the ship power manufacturer, were also stunned for several seconds.
Then, as the old emperor looked back, a middle-aged craftsman wearing glasses stood up:
"May I ask, Your Highness, the so-called power system that allows a 40,000-ton warship to run at 30 knots is a high-density small water pipe pure fuel-fired pressurized spray boiler paired with a steam turbine?"
At this time, the surrounding audience, especially the people from the Military Aircraft Department, the Governor's Mansion, and the Ministry of War, suddenly pricked up their ears, with incredible expressions on their faces.
According to the craftsman of this ship power manufacturer, what Zhu Jingyuan said actually exists?
However, the craftsmen and low-level officials below showed stunned expressions after being stunned, and finally couldn't help but shake their heads.
It seems that they understand what this thing is, and they don't seem to believe that this thing can be useful.
Zhu Jingyuan was also very cooperative and helped them ask what they wanted to ask:
"Yes, that's it. Since the great engineer asked this, does it mean that this kind of technology does exist?"
The middle-aged craftsman looked helpless:
"It does exist, but according to His Majesty the Emperor Shizu's standards, it is still in a purely laboratory state, and the actual shipment verification has not yet been done."
Zhu Jingyuan said with a smile:
"As long as you have it! It doesn't matter if you haven't shipped it for testing. It's not too late to start testing now. The design of a high-speed battleship may take several years!"
The middle-aged craftsman was noncommittal, but Cao Zhenyong, the representative of the Military Aircraft Department, couldn't help but question:
“Small water tube boilers with higher power density and overall lighter weight have been around for more than 30 years.
“But our Ming Dynasty’s main naval ships always use large water tube boilers that are bulkier and have lower power density.
“It’s because large water tube boilers are easy to maintain offshore and are much more convenient to use than small water tube boilers.
"Now that we are switching to small water tube boilers, or the so-called high-density mode, how can we solve the problem of difficult ocean maintenance?"
Zhu Jingyuan directly answered for the craftsman:
"Burn the oil!"
Cao Zhenyong was stunned after hearing this:
"Burning oil? Can burning oil solve the problem of ocean maintenance?"
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded again and said:
"Yes, it burns oil. It is difficult to maintain small water tube boilers because the coal ash and cinders in the boiler are too difficult to clean. This is no longer the case when burning oil!"
Cao Zhenyong vaguely understood that he had entered into a misunderstanding.
The middle-aged craftsman next to him also sorted out his voice, and spoke to the side to explain:
“Relatively clean fuel completely solves the pain point of difficult maintenance of small water tube boilers. The two really complement each other.
"The large water tube coal-fired boilers currently commonly used in the Navy only have a single boiler power of 1,700 horsepower. After switching to pure fuel oil, the power can be increased to about 2,200 horsepower.
“Looking at small water tube boilers, the power of a single boiler can reach 4,000 horsepower when burning coal. After switching to pure fuel oil, the power can be increased to more than 6,000 horsepower.
"Twenty-five small water tube oil-fired boilers can provide 150,000 horsepower, which can enable a 40,000-ton warship to reach a speed of 30 knots.
“With the steam turbine to form a complete power system, it can provide an average of 30 horsepower per ton of weight, and the total weight of the power system is about 5,000 tons.
“If this power system is used, a 40,000-ton 30-knot warship can be achieved, but it is not recommended.
"It is recommended that the speed be lowered to less than 25 knots, and more weight be used to increase firepower and armor, making the hull shape more reasonable and reducing the overall construction cost..."
