Zhu Jingyuan continued to explain his ideas to the officials and craftsmen of the shipbuilding system headed by Zhu Zhongliang and Wang Lai:
“The cost per tonnage of high-speed destroyers used in the fleet is much higher than that of battleships.
“However, the cost of a destroyer per ship, specifically the construction cost of a two to three thousand ton destroyer, is of course much lower than any tens of thousands of ton battleship.
“So, it is impossible for us to build battleships to do the work that can be done with destroyers, and the overall cost will be too high.
“At the same time, in the short term, the Thais should not be able to build a 50,000-ton battleship.
"When they can build battleships of more than 50,000 tons, we should have more 60,000-ton battleships than them.
“Before they built a battleship of this size, the main mission of our existing 60,000-ton battleships was actually to serve as a world-class deterrent force.
“In fact, the work that usually requires battleships can be done by 40,000-ton mass-produced battleships.
“As far as the current level of shipbuilding technology in the world is concerned, they are completely adequate.
"If we use the technology we have just completed to upgrade the existing 40,000-ton battleships, it should be enough to cope with the Taixi battleships of less than 45,000 tons.
"Even if we face their 50,000-ton battleships, they may not be incapable of fighting.
"It's just that with our Ming Dynasty's family background, there is no need to take on that kind of challenge."
When Zhu Jingyuan said this, his attention turned to Wang Lai:
"Don't say that the Ship Department...the Ordnance Department has no plan to upgrade the technology of the existing 40,000-ton warship?"
Wang Lai immediately nodded very seriously and briefly reported the relevant situation to Zhu Jingyuan:
"What His Highness said makes sense, of course we have done the upgrade plan.
“Based on electroslag remelting technology, the 360mm naval gun was redesigned and produced, and replaced with the latest boiler and turbine system with greater power density.
“The number of artillery pieces can be upgraded from three triple mounts with a total of nine guns to four triple mounts with a total of 12 cannons without reducing the speed and defense power.
“The new artillery can use super-heavy artillery shells of at least 850 kilograms or even 900 kilograms.
“The actual power will not be lower than the 380 to 400 mm artillery made with traditional technology.
“We can even try to replace three or even four twin-mounted 420mm guns with new ones.
“Or continue to retain the nine main guns and increase the overall thickness of the main armor to 360 mm.
"Or raising the core of the horizontal armor to two hundred millimeters."
Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly after hearing this:
“Technological upgrades are certainly possible, especially boiler and turbine systems.
“I would rather slow down the construction speed a little, and all the new 40,000-ton warships that will be built in the future will use new power systems.
"But there is no need to continue to increase the number and caliber of the main guns of this type of ship, as well as the thickness of the armor.
“It’s enough for now, but it may not be needed in the future.
“After using new technologies, the weight and space saved can be used for internal technology upgrades such as observation, control, and command.
"You should have some idea of the shipbuilding status of various countries in Europe and the West, right?"
Wang Lai was a little surprised, but the two had worked together for a long time, and Wang Lai quickly understood Zhu Jingyuan's thoughts.
Zhu Jingyuan revealed his judgment to the core designers like Wang Lai. He believed that the future was the era of aviation weapons.
The 40,000-ton mass-produced high-speed battleship is a necessary supplement before the aircraft carrier can no longer operate independently.
It is also a large air defense platform next to the aircraft carrier and the future fleet combat command center.
The 60,000-ton battleship is the supplier of deterrence before the aircraft carrier cannot provide deterrence.
Under this guiding ideology, the main gun and armor indicators of the 40,000-ton battleship certainly do not need to be significantly upgraded.
Just upgrading it with new technology at the current scale should make it difficult for the Taixi people to surpass it in the next ten years.
As the person in charge of warship design, Wang Lai certainly knows the news about the navies of various countries in Thailand and Spain.
When Zhu Jingyuan asked specifically, Wang Lai immediately gave a brief explanation:
"Three years ago, after our 40,000-ton battleship cruised the world, the European and Western countries immediately started building new generation battleships targeting our new battleships, and they have all been launched this year.
“Because we don’t know the actual detailed information about our warships, their design target parameters are actually estimates.
"Most of the naval admirals and craftsmen from various countries in Europe and the West have seen that the maximum speed of our warships is not just twenty-five knots, but they don't dare to think about thirty knots. Their estimates are all about twenty-seven knots. as standard.
"Except for the four traditional naval countries of the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, our craftsmen are directly involved in the design of warships in other countries, so we have the most accurate understanding.
“Among these countries, the French have the greatest accumulation of original naval technology, and the new warships they finally designed and built also have the most balanced indicators in all aspects.
“The first ship of the new battleship is named Duke of Normandy, and the second ship built at the same time is named Duke of Orleans, using the titles of the French crown prince and his wife.
“The new warship has four twin-mounted turrets, all of which are new guns with a caliber of 360 mm and a caliber of 45 times.
“It has 300 mm thick main side armor and 120 mm thick horizontal deck armor.
“The full load displacement is approximately 38,000 tons, and the maximum design speed is 27 knots.
"If we don't have our new battleship as an indicator for comparison, this is a high-speed battleship with a fairly balanced design.
“According to other intelligence, the indicators of the new warships built by the British and Spanish are very close to those of the French.
“The new battleship designed and built by the Prussians under the guidance of our craftsmen has been named the König.
"With a slightly higher full load displacement of 40,000 tons, they have basically achieved similar targets to the French new battleships.
“The Sardinian Italian Dante and the Austrian Allied Forces each completed a triple turret design.
“But the artillery of both countries uses a slightly lower caliber, both of which are 340 mm and 45 times the caliber main gun.
“Both countries have installed four triple turrets on the 40,000-ton hull, and both have up to twelve main guns.
“However, the Austrian’s triple turret only has two sets of shell delivery channels, and the reloading speed is slightly slower.
"However, the speed of the new warships of the two countries is a bit lower than that of the French and Prussian, both only twenty-five knots.
“The largest tonnage among the new warships is the Lucian St. Petersburg class, with a full load displacement of 42,000 tons.
"The Lucians installed six twin main guns with a caliber of 360 mm and a caliber of 45 times on it.
“The side armor and horizontal armor are the same as those of France, and the maximum speed is slightly lower, reaching twenty-six knots.
"The Ottoman factory, under our guidance, built a battleship with a full load displacement of 30,000 tons, a maximum speed of 23 knots, and four twin-mounted 300mm main guns.
"At the same time, a battleship with a full load displacement of 35,000 tons, a maximum speed of 27 knots, eight 360mm caliber, and a 45x caliber main gun has been ordered from the Ming Dynasty Royal Shipyard. It has now been launched. .
“This ship is a simplified version of our 40,000-ton warship.
"Important technical indicators such as the square stern, bulbous bow, turbine power, triple turret, and gun diameter have been reduced, but among the new warships from European and Western countries, it is still the highest technical level."
Zhu Jingyuan couldn't help laughing when he heard this:
"Among the countries in Europe and the West, the most advanced warships are actually in the hands of the Ottomans?"
Zhu Zhongliang and Wang Lai also laughed when they heard this comment.
For the French and British to achieve this level, they also need to weigh more than 38,000 tons.
And the reliability cannot be compared with that produced by Daming.
The atmosphere at the scene relaxed for a while, and Zhu Jingyuan asked a new question:
"What about their shipbuilding plan? When new warships are launched, they should also have new ideas in the future, right?"
Wang Lai, as the chief shipbuilder of the Ming Dynasty, is also very clear about this information:
“The current primary goal of most European and Western countries is to continue to optimize the design of existing 40,000-ton warships.
“All countries are working hard to improve the power and efficiency of the power system, and to tackle and improve the design of multi-unit turrets.
“In addition to the power system, the Austrians and Italians are hesitant to develop a 360mm main gun.
“They may jump directly to the 380mm caliber or even the 400mm caliber.
“Their follow-up new warships are highly similar in design to existing warships, and their main goal is to increase the speed to 27 knots.
“The Prussians and Lucians are mainly working on the design of triple-mounted turrets.
“At the same time, we have also begun to work on artillery with a caliber of 400 mm and above.
“The new warship is going to use triple turrets, and the Lucians also want to increase the maximum speed of the warship.
“The French are quite quick-thinking, and they are ready to continue building the existing Normandy-type battleships.
“At the same time, technicians are preparing to tackle the design of a quadruple turret.
“The British side has relatively little intelligence, but it can be completely confirmed that it is also working on triple turrets and power system power.
“In addition, we also received intelligence that they are secretly developing and building a new type of warship.
"The level of secrecy surrounding this type of battleship is unprecedentedly high, and discussions among insiders often use the word 'boo' to refer to it.
"Instead of directly mentioning certain project codes or scheduled ship names...
“Generally speaking, except for the British, which is a special boo warship, no other country has plans for a warship with a larger tonnage.
“That is still beyond the capabilities of most countries.
“Even their new target-type warships still lag behind our existing 40,000-ton warships in overall indicators.
“Not to mention new models using upgraded electroslag remelting processes.”
Zhu Jingyuan was slightly surprised when he heard this and asked:
"Hush-class... battleship? Do you know any other news about this kind of battleship?
"Based on the judgment of Ankang's technical and information personnel, what type of warship might this be?"
Zhu Jingyuan was a little surprised by this Hush, because the British in their previous life built a "Hush" class battleship before World War I.
The Hush class at that time was the "Valiant class large light cruiser", but later it was changed to an aircraft carrier.
The first two ships were brave and glorious, both with a length of 240 meters and a speed of 30 knots.
Light cruiser-class 76 mm armor, four battleship-class 15-inch (381 mm) guns.
The third ship called Fury was even more outrageous, equipped with two huge 18-inch (457 mm) cannons.
This is not even a battlecruiser, nor is it a large cruiser later in World War II, but a large cannon light cruiser.
In Zhu Jingyuan's memory, they seemed to be the crispy cannon ships with the largest difference in artillery and defense capabilities in history.
At that time, the British First Lord of the Admiralty Fisher traded speed and range for defense. The concept of a battle cruiser was a monster battleship built in the name of a light cruiser under the constraints of a stingy financial budget.
Fisher's battle cruise concept of "speed and range is the best defense" is certainly not wrong.
Because the ultimate realization of this concept was the later aircraft carrier.
If Fisher had been Lord of the Admiralty for a few more years, the Queen Elizabeth class would probably have been on a 27-knot battle cruise.
Had he lived a few more years, he might have become an avid aircraft carrier fan.
According to Zhu Jingyuan's understanding, Nelson, the most famous British naval admiral now, has ideas closer to Fisher's.
It is also the logic of pursuing speed in exchange for defense.
The key is that now aircraft have matured and the idea of aircraft carriers has appeared in the navies of various countries.
Nelson is now likely to support aircraft carrier construction.
So will the British Hush battleships in this world be aircraft carriers from the beginning?
While Zhu Jingyuan was thinking about it in his mind, Wang Lai opposite him directly gave a similar judgment:
“The judgment of our craftsmen and the information personnel of the Western Factory is that the British are most likely to be building a large aircraft carrier, and there is a lower possibility that they are building a larger-scale super battleship.
“However, whether it is a large aircraft carrier or a super battleship, it is impossible to directly reach the 60,000-ton level.
“The speed, standard and quantity of the 60,000-ton battleship and aircraft carrier projects we are steadily advancing will not be lower than those of the British.
"So we believe that there is no need to pay too much attention to this so-called peeing boat..."
After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly:
“Without understanding our aircraft carrier design, you would never have thought that you could directly build a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier.
"The key is still the issue of cost. Their decision-makers cannot use the construction cost of a 40,000-ton warship to conduct such an experiment without absolutely reliable data support.
"Even if the navy and craftsmen believe in this design, traditional decision-makers will not be able to follow the lead."
Wang Lai also fully recognized Zhu Jingyuan's judgment, and at the same time he very much wanted to ask, why can you two, the Ming Dynasty's Supreme Emperor and His Highness Prince Dashi, make such a decision?
Is it just because an aircraft carrier of this level is actually your own idea?
Zhu Zhongliang, who was standing next to him, had been listening. When he heard about the aircraft carrier, he finally couldn't help but interrupt:
"Now that there are airplanes all over the world, have all the countries in Europe and the West considered aircraft carriers?"
Wang Lai immediately reported:
"Yes, the navies of various countries in Thailand and Spain have studied the use of aircraft on ships.
“The most radical among them are the British, French, and Spanish, who have already done actual modification tests.
“The flight deck was laid on existing cruisers or large merchant ships and cargo ships, and a test aircraft carrier capable of launching and recovering aircraft was modified.
“However, the design is still very immature, and there are still many problems in the eyes of our craftsmen.
“All countries in Thailand and the West believe that we must also have an aircraft carrier design, so the countries that cooperate with us want to obtain information.
"However, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi has already issued an order. We have given a hush-hush order to all craftsmen. We must not reveal any aircraft carrier-related designs to the Taixi people.
"Under such circumstances, by the time they figure out a more mature aircraft carrier design, our 60,000-ton aircraft super aircraft carrier will have combat effectiveness."
(End of chapter)
