When Zhu Jingyuan arrived in Nanjing, the visiting fleet of the Ming Navy also arrived in France.
Two 60,000-ton battleships, four 40,000-ton battleships, and one 40,000-ton aircraft carrier.
In this way, seven battleships and twelve 16,000-ton cruisers docked at the French naval port of Le Havre.
The number of new capital ships in this fleet is more than the number of new capital ships currently built in France.
The purpose of this fleet going to Tessie was not just to participate in the parade for the coronation of Louis Charles as Louis XVII.
But after a lapse of six years, he once again came to Thailand and Spain for "goodwill visits".
The specific number of ships participating in Louis XVII's ship review will be discussed with the French side and will depend on Charles's own needs.
It is likely that only one or two ships will be arranged to pass by.
Compared with six years ago, the size of Ming's visiting fleet has expanded again.
Not only were two 60,000-ton super battleships added, but a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier was also added.
Although the succession of the new king of France is far less important than the succession of the Ming Emperor, it is still a very important event in the world.
At the end of last year, the sixty-five-year-old Huang Yue retired with the title of Zhengyipin Dazongbo, and was awarded the additional title of earl.
Fifty-three-year-old Shen Fu, after ten years in the position of Minister of Honglu Temple, was finally promoted to the first rank of Zongbo, taking over all Huang Yue's original positions and being in charge of all cultural and diplomatic affairs.
As a representative of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Fu, together with Niu Jian, Zhu Jingyuan's personal representative, arrived in France on a visiting fleet.
The fleet's arrival in France caused a huge stir among officials and citizens alike.
First of all, the scale is too large. The scale of single ship and fleet are unprecedented.
Then there is the special relationship between the two countries. When Ciel was about to be crowned, the Ming Dynasty arranged for such a fleet to participate. The meaning of this expression could not be clearer. This is absolute support.
From the royal family to the nobility, from manufacturers to the middle class, as well as ordinary people who pay a little attention to international relations and military affairs, they all feel that their country has received enough attention and feel very glorious.
Private newspapers have reported the relevant news for a long time, and people who had the opportunity to come over in the past few days came to the pier to watch.
Fleets from other countries participating in the ship review have also arrived in France in the past two days.
Most countries arranged for a battleship to come over, and some were not even the most cutting-edge battleships.
Comparing the two, Ming's fleet appears to be even more exaggerated.
The scene of a total of nineteen huge warships from the Ming Dynasty sailing into the dock of Le Havre, France, and when they docked at the dock and the harbor, bursts of cheers arose from time to time.
Of course, journalists from major newspapers in France and Thailand would not miss this rare opportunity. They took the time to find good angles and locations and took a large number of photos and videos.
The film technology integrated and invented by Zhu Jingyuan has now spread to major countries in the world.
The French, who already had a special relationship with Ming Dynasty, learned the fastest.
The entire port of Le Havre is surrounded by a lively sea.
French King Louis XVI and his wife, as well as Crown Prince Charles and his wife and children, who were about to hold the coronation ceremony, also brought the main French nobles and officials to the interior of the military port to welcome and visit.
The French King and Crown Prince's family are among the best in the world in terms of status.
Coupled with Zhu Jingyuan's special relationship, they were valued more by Ming officials than the average Thai and Western kings and crown princes.
Shen Fu, the representative of the Ming Dynasty, and Niu Jian, the personal representative of Zhu Jingyuan, came out of the cabin together and received the French King and his wife and the Crown Prince Charles and his family.
The two took them aboard the flagship battleship Huguang and visited the deck facilities and main cabins of the battleship.
At the position of the reduction gear set in the core engine room, Louis XVI looked at the huge mechanical structure composed of large gears in front of him, and couldn't help but sincerely admire:
"This...this huge mechanical battleship is simply art!
"The huge and majestic body and the complex and sophisticated structure are really fascinating!"
Louis XVI might become a technical geek if he lived in future generations...
Charles also looked carefully at the mechanical structures around him and asked some curious questions from time to time:
"What is the output power of the Huguang battleship's power system? What is the power density of the entire power system? And what is the maximum speed of this battleship? Can it be disclosed?"
Niu Jian didn't do anything to hide this issue, and directly told Charles the specific data clearly:
"The design power of the power system is 200,000 horsepower, the power density is 50 horsepower per ton, and the design maximum speed is 32 knots."
Including Charles, French officials who paid attention to and understood the process of warship technology research and construction were all surprised when they heard these three data, and then they all had obvious doubts.
The crowd started talking in low voices.
"Fifty horsepower per ton! My God!"
"Our battleship's power system can barely achieve thirty horsepower per ton!"
"This is a battleship power system, not a cruiser. Can this kind of power density really be achieved? Is it really no problem?"
"Daming's technology level far exceeds ours. Of course it can achieve this kind of power density and still maintain safety."
"The key point is that a 60,000-ton warship can travel at a speed of 32 knots. This is really terrifying!"
"This speed can catch up with many cruisers..."
"No, unless the weather is calm, a cruiser that claims to be above 33 knots will probably not be able to catch up with her."
"Yes, the larger the warship's tonnage, the more stable its speed, and the stronger its ability to deal with bad weather and sea conditions."
"When the wind and waves in the North Sea rise, it will be good if the cruiser can run to 20 knots, but the battleship can continue to run to 30 knots."
"So when there are wind and waves, not to mention cruisers, even the latest destroyers with 35 knots can't outrun the battleships with only 30 knots in name..."
"Wait a minute, I have a question. With two hundred thousand horsepower and a displacement of sixty thousand tons, how can it achieve a speed of thirty-two knots?"
"On the other side, according to our calculations, our 40,000-ton battleship needs 150,000 horsepower to run at thirty knots, more than 190,000 horsepower to run at thirty-two knots, and more than 190,000 horsepower to run at thirty-two knots. The second quarter requires at least 230,000 horsepower..."
"So... the underwater linear design of Ming's hull is more excellent? Can it reduce resistance?"
"The shape of Ming's ship is indeed different from ours, but you can't see it underwater..."
When the following people were discussing this point, Charles went to ask Niu Jian without warning:
"Mr. Niu, how did the Ming Dynasty make a 60,000-ton ship run at 32 knots with 200,000 horsepower?"
Niu Jian said with a smile:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can actually observe the shape of Ming Dynasty's ships. Whether it is the bow, stern or bottom, they are different from traditional warships and have special drag reduction designs.
"But the specific method of reducing it can be regarded as a national military secret, so even if it is the relationship between His Royal Highness Prince Dashi and His Highness the Crown Prince, there is no way to tell you directly.
“We can only say that His Highness can arrange for French technical personnel to use their brains more on drag reduction design and pay more attention to the latest research developments in fluid dynamics.
"As long as you are willing to work hard, you should be able to reduce the power demand by more than tens of thousands of horsepower through linear design."
After hearing this, Charles nodded very gratefully:
"Thank you, Mr. Niu, for reminding me, and thank you to my best friend for informing me..."
A group of people took a tour inside the cabin and came out of the battleship's cabin again.
Charles stood on the deck of the Huguang and subconsciously looked at the other battleship next door - the Zhenhai aircraft carrier.
Ming Dynasty brought the official version of the 40,000-ton aircraft carrier it built to France.
The new 60,000-ton battleship certainly feels shocking, but this is within the scope that everyone can understand.
With the technical support of Ming Dynasty, various countries in Europe and the West have built a batch of 40,000-ton high-speed battleships in the past few years.
They were able to understand that if they obtained higher-level production processes in steel and other related industries, and scaled up the existing 40,000-ton battleships, they would be able to obtain a relatively reasonable design for a 60,000-ton or even larger battleship.
This is essentially a combination of faster engines, larger artillery, and thicker armor. Compared with traditional battleships, new high-speed battleships are not completely subversive changes.
As for aircraft carriers, it is completely different. Now all countries in Europe and the West are trying to figure out how to build them.
No one had ever made it before.
Daming has not provided any public reference samples before.
With the signing of the Europa Naval Treaty, the definition of aircraft carrier was clarified.
In the following three years and eight months, various countries in Europe and the West successively tried to build a number of aircraft carriers.
The Ming Dynasty's craftsmen were fully involved in the design of new battleships at this stage. Most of the new battleships in the European and Western countries had Ming Dynasty providing part of the technology.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty knows exactly what these battleships in Taixi are like.
Regarding this latest batch of aircraft carriers, Zhu Jingyuan and Daming craftsmen believe that each has its own characteristics.
Some countries are seriously lacking experience and have no accumulation in related fields. The Ming Dynasty does not provide direct help, so the ships they build are taken for granted.
The most basic situation is to remove the rear deck or front deck of the original cruiser and lay half of the flight deck.
A rather bizarre situation is the design of removing all the main guns, but continuing to place the chimney in the middle of the hull, and laying two decks in front and behind the chimney.
A slightly better situation is to lay a deck in the middle of the hull and place the smoke exhaust outlet behind the hull.
A better situation is to put the chimney on the middle side, but some are on the left and some on the right.
There are also cases where the chimney is completely tilted down and bent downwards, blowing smoke towards the sea when running.
The aircraft carrier designs of these countries can only be regarded as experimental explorations and are used to accumulate design experience.
The best situation is the design of Britain, France and Spain.
Compared with other countries, these three countries have actually completed the first stage of transformation and exploration design.
In addition, all three countries have relatively mature naval systems and experienced naval generals and engineering personnel.
The new aircraft carrier design after the signing of the Naval Treaty is already a formal design completely targeting aircraft carriers.
Therefore, compared with the work done by other countries, the new aircraft carriers of the Three Kingdoms are already close to Ming Dynasty's design in the eyes of Ming Dynasty craftsmen.
There is a fully straight-through deck, and an upward chimney located on the middle side of the deck and overall higher than the deck.
These two points of design sound very simple, but they are actually the most basic design of a typical aircraft carrier in the propeller era.
After these two points are confirmed, subsequent design updates can be regarded as detailed additions and adjustments.
Correspondingly, Ming's aircraft carrier can also be pulled out and directly visible to the Thai people.
When Charles and French officials involved in aircraft carrier research and design saw the Ming Dynasty's aircraft carrier, they all knew they were on the right track.
Nowadays, the navies of various countries in Europe and the West have formed a certain mentality of blind obedience. As long as what they do is similar to what the Ming Dynasty did, they must be doing the right thing.
If it is different from the Ming Dynasty, there is probably something wrong.
Even if it may be very reasonable in principle, it will be repeatedly questioned by relevant or unwilling personnel in the country.
The French had not seen Ming Dynasty's aircraft carrier before, so they were not very confident about their own aircraft carrier design.
Ming Dynasty is now bringing the aircraft carrier over. For the French, it is like checking the answers after finishing the exam and finding that they answered the important question that they were not sure about correctly.
Chartton was also glad in his heart that he almost misunderstood his best friend's hint and thought that the smaller the aircraft carrier, the better.
Fortunately, I figured it out later based on the British reaction.
Now it seems that Daming's point of view is indeed that the aircraft carrier is not very important, but he also thinks that she is very useful.
The fleet currently visiting the West, this combination of six battleships and one large aircraft carrier, is obviously the most reasonable use of aircraft carriers discovered by the Ming Dynasty.
According to the estimates of the French naval generals, as long as one aircraft carrier is added to the battleship formation, the fleet can achieve nearly twice the combat effectiveness of its number.
The reconnaissance capability of one aircraft carrier exceeds that of two complete avant-garde reconnaissance fleets.
But at the same time, the officials and craftsmen of Charles and the French navy were also full of admiration.
Ming's aircraft carrier is too big...
It is a whole circle larger than the aircraft carrier designed and constructed by myself.
Charles looked at the deck of the aircraft carrier not far away, and finally couldn't help but ask Niu Jian about her situation:
"This is the aircraft carrier officially built by the Ming Dynasty! She looks as huge as this 60,000-ton battleship!
"Can you tell us her tonnage, speed, and aircraft carrying capacity? These are the approximate parameters?"
Daming usually would not refuse such questions, so it was natural for Ciel to ask.
Niu Jian knew that this kind of question could be answered, so he introduced it very readily:
“Aircraft carriers do not have the armor of battleships, and their draft will be shallower than battleships.
“So looking at this aircraft carrier, which is as big as a 60,000-ton battleship, its full load displacement is actually 40,000 tons.
“The power system has a power of 160,000 shaft horsepower and a maximum speed of 32 knots.
“It can carry up to 100 aircraft of various types, and the more efficient number is about 80.
"These eighty aircraft are enough to provide reconnaissance and cover missions for this battleship formation.
"If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is really interested, we can go directly to the Zhenhai aircraft carrier to visit..."
After hearing this, Charles couldn't help but admire and said:
"Forty thousand tons! This is already one-third larger than the aircraft carriers of various countries in Thailand and Spain...
“The speed of thirty-two knots is also faster than our aircraft carrier which can reach up to thirty knots.
"There are also a hundred Ming Dynasty planes...
“We may have to use two aircraft carriers to achieve the effect of this one aircraft carrier.
“Calculated this way, to achieve the same goal, we have to spend more resources, money and manpower than Ming Dynasty.
“The tonnage limit of aircraft carriers of up to 28,000 tons stipulated in the naval treaty is very unreasonable...
"Is this the so-called medium-sized ship cost trap?"
When Niu Jian heard these words, he immediately smiled and consoled him:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does not need to worry. Although the unit construction cost of a battleship is indeed more cost-effective with a larger total tonnage, bigger is definitely not better in terms of battleship design.
“Our Royal Highness the Prince said on the issue of ship tonnage that the tonnage of a warship should be as small as possible while achieving the design goals.
“If France does not target the Ming Dynasty, why should it design new warships based on the Ming Dynasty’s warship specifications?
“Two 28,000-ton aircraft carriers must cost more than one 40,000-ton aircraft carrier.
“It is indeed possible that these two aircraft carriers form a fleet and will not have much advantage against a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier.
"But the biggest advantage of the two aircraft carriers is that they have 'two' and they can do two jobs.
“You can place one in Mexico and the other in Canada.
“It’s impossible for a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier to do this.
"The situation in Ming Dynasty is different from that in France. A more reasonable choice for Ming Dynasty may not be reasonable for France.
“Navy construction should be based on its own situation and needs, rather than disregarding all actual conditions and pursuing cost-effectiveness alone.
"Otherwise, we should not build cruisers and demand, just build battleships with the lowest unit cost.
"Does the Crown Prince think this is true?"
After hearing this, Charles nodded slowly:
"It is indeed the case. The French Navy does not need to confront the Ming Dynasty Navy, nor does it need to pursue excessive single-ship combat capabilities.
“We should find ways to achieve France’s actual combat needs at a lower cost.
"Thank you Mr. Niu for reminding me, I almost fell into a misunderstanding again..."
Niu Jian quickly smiled and said modestly:
"Your Majesty, you are welcome, this is the logic I have learned from being with our Prince for a long time.
"If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to thank you, you should still directly thank our Highness the Prince of Dashi..."
Charles also smiled and nodded and said:
"I will write to my best friend again... I really want to see him again, but it's a pity that after becoming the king, there will be no chance..."
(End of chapter)
