Zhu Jingyuan wondered if he was thinking too much.
Is it because I have thoughts about the throne, so when I encounter any situation, I will unconsciously think about it.
Zhu Jingyuan glanced at the old emperor with some confusion, only to find that the old emperor nodded slightly towards him.
Could it be that a new illusion of life has appeared?
But the old emperor's mentality was indeed in a completely different state.
Now there is less than a year left before he plans to abdicate, and he will wait until the end of this year at most.
After abdicating, he must live for at least another five or six years to protect the next generation of emperors and stabilize the rule of the next generation of emperors.
Now to replace the already semi-public prince, it will take extra time to stabilize the order in all aspects, and my time is even more urgent.
So there is no time to slowly brew. Whether it is assessment or prompts on various aspects, it must be more direct and clear.
But this kid is still a little bit ignorant. What does your confused expression mean?
Is it because you are completely unprepared?
That's right, according to the so-called convention, he has no chance at all.
The old emperor considered the current situation in his mind and urged the stunned Zhu Jingyuan again:
"Don't be stunned and continue talking. Regarding the aircraft carrier you named, what should its ideal design be like?"
Sure enough, seeing the design in a makeshift state did not satisfy the old emperor. He still wanted to know the best state.
Zhu Jingyuan adjusted his position and picked up the fourth glass plate and the fourth instruction form:
“The No. 4 ship, which is a radical exploration-type aircraft carrier, can be used as the aircraft carrier design for future target ships.
"She will also be the largest warship we have designed in recent years.
“Her tonnage will be the same as that of the No. 2 battleship, but her structure and protection level will be at the cruiser level, and she will not have a large-caliber main gun.
“So most of her 40,000 tons will be used on the hull.
“Her waterline length will reach 256 meters, plus the length extended from the bow and stern, the total length of the hull should exceed 270 meters.
"The width of the waterline should reach 32 meters, and the width of the hull deck should exceed 48 meters.
“If a battleship is that big, its displacement may exceed 60,000 tons.
"The waterline aspect ratio has reached 8:1. The slender body is more suitable for high speeds. The draft should be controlled at about 8 meters, which is shallower than a battleship.
“So even though her hull is larger, the speed will be faster with the same power system power.
“With the bulbous bow and square stern design, we should also be able to get her to 32 knots.
"As an ideal aircraft carrier, her hull will be specially designed for aircraft carriers and will no longer be modified as a cruiser.
“The direct result is that the wider and more comprehensive flight deck will extend from the main body of the ship to beyond the waterline, forming two spacious water highways.
"The hangar will also be extremely spacious, with a height of at least 7 meters, an area of 4,000 square meters, and a capacity of more than 100 aircraft."
Zhu Jingyuan demonstrated and introduced the ideal aircraft carrier design. She is basically an enlarged and optimized version of the Essex class.
The Essex-class aircraft carrier is commonly known as the "dumpling" class aircraft carrier among military fans.
A total of 32 ships of the same class have been ordered, and a total of 24 sister ships have been completed. It is the only mass-produced main aircraft carrier in history.
Simply talking about the design of the aircraft carrier itself, Essex is not very outstanding, and can even be regarded as very ordinary.
The anatomy of her cabin structure looks like it is made up of boxes of various sizes, stacked together very neatly.
But it is precisely because of this ordinaryness that she has become the most successful mass-produced aircraft carrier and the best war machine, rather than a work of art.
The Yamato and Musashi sisters they beat to pieces can be called "works of art" instead.
Essex's single ship level is not bad, the key is that it is very suitable for mass production, and this is officially the most suitable route for the Ming Dynasty Navy.
Now that there are no historical naval treaty restrictions, the aircraft carrier design indicators proposed by Zhu Jingyuan will be more complete than the historical Essex.
The size of the ship has been enlarged, from 33,000 tons to 40,000 tons.
Therefore, with a more spacious hangar and flight deck, the overall defense level can be improved to a higher level.
For the audience below, it feels a little lively now, but there is no reaction at all.
The previous 40,000-ton battleship had already exceeded the original design imagination. Now this aircraft carrier is even bigger than a battleship?
Zhu Jingyuan looked at the audience who had no reaction and did not stay here longer.
The design of the aircraft carrier is almost brand new. It would be endless to explain it carefully on site. You can just go back and talk to the designers alone.
So Zhu Jingyuan spoke again and continued to explain the last two battleship design indicators, a new cruiser and a new destroyer.
For these screen guard ships and auxiliary ships, Zhu Jingrong's design requirements were much simpler than those of the previous battleships.
The new cruiser design direction is based on the high-speed battleship plan, reducing the overall size of the ship body and simplifying the defense structure.
Then, the full load displacement is limited to no more than 14,000 tons, the triple 160mm gun is used, and the shape design is similar to that of a high-speed battleship.
In the eyes of people in the World War II era, these requirements would obviously be regarded as a 10,000-ton fleet light cruiser.
But in the eyes of people of this era, it was an armored cruiser with strictly limited tonnage.
Looking at these requests, Cao Zhenyong from the Military Aircraft Department stood up and asked as a representative of the military:
“May I ask, Your Highness, why are there such strict restrictions on the size of cruisers?
“Aren’t the displacement of up to 12,000 tons and the main gun of up to 160 mm too low?
“The tonnage of enemy armored cruisers is usually slightly higher than this, and the key is mostly to use 240 mm or even 255 mm naval guns.
“Our newly designed cruiser using a 160mm gun is obviously unable to cope with an advance battle with an enemy cruiser.
"Now that the tonnage of our main ships has been increased to 40,000 tons, should the cruisers be increased to 20,000 tons or even higher?
"Is it possible to design a cruiser with a displacement of 24,000 tons and a 300mm gun using the standards of the No. 1 ship?"
Zhu Jingyuan was slightly stunned when he heard these questions. When he heard the specifications of the so-called cruiser planned by Cao Zhenyong, he thought of a certain "big dog".
It does not refer to the Japanese heavy cruiser Atago, but to the American Alaska-class large cruiser, the battleship nicknamed the 1:0.7 ship model of Iowa.
So Zhu Jingyuan sorted out his thinking a little, and first grasped one point to analyze and ask:
"Cao Junji, you don't seem to realize that the speed of our battleship has increased to 30 knots.
"If we need a screen cruiser to participate in the vanguard battle in advance, then the speed of the cruiser cannot be at least lower than that of the battleship, right?
"Then have you ever estimated how much it would cost for a cruiser of this size to reach a speed of over 30 knots?
"The key is, compared with a 40,000-ton high-speed battleship, how much will the cost be?"
Cao Zhenyong was obviously taken aback, and then he soon vaguely realized what the problem was. As he began to think about it, he instinctively answered:
"If a 24,000-ton cruiser wants to reach a speed of 30 knots, it cannot use the conservative traditional hull structure and must be redesigned with reference to high-speed battleships.
“To ensure the maximum speed of 30 knots and the most basic defense capabilities, larger caliber naval guns cannot be used.
“At most, there are eight 300mm naval guns, and we may even use 240mm naval guns.
"Even so, the final cost of building a single ship will still be very high, probably exceeding about 70% of that of a high-speed battleship."
When Zhu Jingyuan heard this, he already knew what was going on, so he continued to guide the topic step by step:
"Doesn't this mean that the construction cost of three such large cruisers is more than that of two 40,000-ton high-speed battleships.
"Then on the battlefield, can three large cruisers defeat two high-speed battleships?"
The historical Alaska-class large cruisers had a displacement of almost 60% that of the Iowa-class battleships, and the final construction cost was almost 70% of that of the Iowa.
The result of the direct comparison between the two classes of battleships is that cruiser-class protection is used to protect the cutting-edge battleships.
Use nine 305mm guns against nine 406mm guns.
This is no longer a question of victory or not, but a question of not being able to fight back at all.
The combat power of an Iowa is at least as strong as that of two Alaskas.
The Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy, Five-Star Admiral Ernest Joseph King, once said of the Alaska-class cruiser:
"Slender, elegant, beautiful... This is the most beautiful failure I have ever seen..."
Compared with Zhu Jingyuan's high-speed battleship, the large cruiser proposed by Cao Zhenyong is not as big as the gap between Alaska and Iowa, but it is not far away.
Cao Zhenyong now basically understood what Zhu Jingyuan meant, but he still answered these questions very cooperatively.
Now it is equivalent to using a dialogue between two people to explain the logic to other viewers, and at the same time ask their own questions:
"Three large cruisers, with a total of 24 300mm naval guns.
"Facing two high-speed battleships with a total of 24 360mm guns, they were completely suppressed just by looking at the firepower.
“The defense level of a cruiser cannot be compared with that of a battleship.
“So in a normal artillery battle, three large cruisers are no match for two high-speed battleships and are likely to be unilaterally suppressed on the battlefield.
"So our future choice is not to build medium and large cruisers for avant-garde warfare? Just to build more high-speed battleships?
"But in this fleet mode, how will the advance battle and decisive battle be arranged in the future, and how will the specific battle be carried out?"
Zhu Jingyuan laughed and waved his hand, and said with great satisfaction:
"Since the speed of our capital ships is already higher than that of the enemy's screen ships, why do we still clearly distinguish between vanguard battles and decisive battles?
"In the future, the capital ship will no longer have to wait in the rear. Just like the ancient cavalry force, it can just charge all the way!"
