Some say that it is necessary to withstand the bombardment of an 18-pound cannon within two hundred meters at least, some say that it is enough to withstand a fourteen-pound cannon within two hundred meters, and some think that it must be able to withstand the bombardment of a two-pound cannon within two hundred meters. The bombardment of the fourteen-pound cannon.
And each has its own reasons...
The person in charge of light protection said that the gains of building a thicker deck outweigh the losses. The cost and tonnage will rise rapidly, and the maneuverability will quickly decline...
Finally, all these days are sail warships. They can’t penetrate your deck, take down your mast, or burn your sails?
Once the mast is broken and the sails are burned, no matter how strong the warship is, it can only become a dead fish floating on the sea... If it doesn't sink itself next, it will most likely be captured by the enemy!
Therefore, the protective performance is enough to block a 14-pound cannon and artillery. Others are not necessary...
Various debates lasted for a long time. The Navy held many high-level meetings in succession and consulted Luo Zhixue many times before finally deciding on the various design indicators for the battleship. With these design indicators, it was finally finalized. Detailed design of the Jinling-class battleship and construction work started.
——
Today, in the large dry dock next to the completed cruiser Songjiang, many craftsmen are working on a battleship, the battleship Jinling.
Although the battleship Jinling has only completed about 30% of the hull work, it can still be seen that this is a huge battleship.
Rear Admiral Sun Zhengyong, director of the Ship Affairs Department of the Ministry of Navy and also the designer of the Jinling battleship, introduced the cruiser Songjiang to a group of people and then introduced the battleship Jinling to everyone.
"For the design of the Jinling battleship, we drew on many foreign Galen armed merchant ships and the experience of the previous Songjiang-class cruisers. Finally, we finalized the technical parameters based on our actual needs and technical capabilities."
"The proposed standard combat displacement of the entire battleship reaches 1,500 tons, and the length reaches 58 meters. It adopts a soft sail design with three masts and a bowsprit, and adopts a double full-pass artillery deck."
"In order to ensure the needs of ocean navigation operations, we designed a relatively large storage space for living supplies and ammunition, and also optimized the ability to withstand wind and waves. This is why the tonnage of this warship appears to be even higher when equipped with seventy-four artillery pieces. It’s relatively large.”
"In order to be able to carry so many heavy artillery and numerous ammunition supplies, we did not adopt the rib design of the foreign Galen ships, but instead designed our own oval-shaped ship ribs with a stronger load-bearing capacity."
"After our calculations and tests, the oval ship ribs we designed can effectively increase the carrying capacity of the warship to obtain greater tonnage and carry more heavy artillery."
"At the same time, we also strive for excellence in the selection of wood. We use the highest quality shipbuilding wood, and some load-bearing parts used on the ship are also made of fine steel to further enhance the structural strength. "
"After adopting the new oval-shaped ship ribs, the standard displacement of this battleship can reach 1,500 tons and can be equipped with seventy-four naval guns. The lower deck is planned to carry twenty-six six-year-old twenty-four guns. Jin naval gun, Daye Heavy Artillery Factory has successfully trial-produced a prototype of this naval gun and is currently undergoing testing."
"The upper deck is planned to carry a fourteen-pound cannon."
"We will also carry a small number of nine-pound cannons at the bow and stern of the ship."
"With such a huge tonnage, this firepower is already the best in the world, enough to be compared with the first-class battleships in Europe."
Listening to Sun Zhengyong's words, Admiral Lu Xingye looked at the battleship Jinling in front of him, which had only completed the bottom building of the ship. Then he looked down at the design sketch of the Jinling, and finally said: "This kind of battleship is ours." The main battleship the navy needs!"
"According to the information we got from the barbarians, their main battleships are generally equipped with more than fifty cannons, and there are many battleships with eighty cannons!"
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
"It's a first-class battleship with more than ninety or even hundreds of cannons!"
"Although we have not seen these warships in the South China Sea yet, as maritime conflicts further intensify in the future, these barbarians are likely to transfer these main warships from their hometowns. By then, we must have the ability to A battleship that rivals their first-class battleships!”
"The battleship Jinling is very good, with sufficient firepower and excellent ocean navigation capabilities. This is exactly the battleship we need!"
"This second-class battleship is more important than the first-class battleship!"
Admiral Lu Xingye, as a navy man, naturally knows very well that the Da Chu Empire Navy needs not only battleships with excellent performance, but also more such battleships.
Therefore, although the Navy has plans to build larger first-class battleships, considering the cost-effectiveness issue, the number of first-class battleships will definitely not be too many. At most, they will serve as the flagship of the squadron, and the real main force of the battle will be I'm afraid we still have to rely on this kind of second-class battleship with seventy-four guns.
The Da Chu Empire Navy has a construction plan for a first-class battleship, which is currently in the design stage. At the same time, the shipyard also needs to carry out technical preparations such as dock expansion.
The proposed first-class battleship will be a big one with a tonnage of more than two thousand tons.
This kind of big guy knows with his toes that the price will definitely not be cheap, and due to the relatively large tonnage, and the need to take into account protection and firepower, the speed and flexibility are expected to be worse.
This kind of first-class battleship is just like its designed purpose. It can only play a role in fleet decisive battles. It is too troublesome to use normally.
Because of the cost-effectiveness factor, the future main battleship of the Da Chu Empire Navy will be a second-class battleship with seventy-four guns like the Jinling-class battleship.
This is also reflected in the allocation and use of Navy funds.
After Admiral Lu Xingye finished his inspection of Wusong Port, the first thing he did when he returned to Jinling City was to report the relevant matters of the trip to Luo Zhixue, and to request an additional batch of shipbuilding funds to increase the number of Jinling-class ships. Orders for battleships.
Luo Zhixue did not approve the navy's funding application immediately. This was a funding of 2.5 million taels. How could he just approve it casually?
According to the shipbuilding costs given by the Navy, the Navy plans to add an order for ten more battleships. The construction cost of a Jinling City battleship has reached 250,000 taels of silver. This does not include the various technical research costs paid by the Navy in the early stage. cost.
The reason why it is so expensive is because the wood used in warships is top-quality wood... In order to build ships, the Chu Empire spent a lot of money to search for wood everywhere, such as high-quality wood from the southwest mountainous area, and also purchased it from the Nanyang region.
The cost of wood accounts for a large part of the construction cost.
In addition, there is the cost of naval guns. The Jinling City battleship has seventy-four cannons, twenty-six of which are huge 24-pound cannons.
And sailing is not cheap either.
In the end, the total of two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver was the result of careful calculation.
However, don't think that if you spend 250,000 taels of silver, you will be able to get a Jinling-class battleship to go to the battlefield in a few years.
This is just the cost of a battleship!
In order for this battleship to have combat effectiveness, it must be equipped with a large amount of supplies and ammunition. Just one trip to sea requires more than ten tons of gunpowder...
Then the personnel expenses are also very large. Merchant sailors these days are high-tech jobs with high salaries. Even sailors in the Navy have high salaries, and a battleship requires several hundred people.
Now that you have all these things, do you think that’s enough?
No, you have to maintain this ship regularly. This kind of wooden ship needs to be carefully maintained. Otherwise, a warship costing more than 200,000 taels of silver will become moldy and rotten in just a few years... And maintenance requires A large number of naval bases or shipyards, especially dry docks for ship maintenance below the waterline, are indispensable.
At the same time, in order to maintain the parking and operations of warships, you need enough naval bases. These naval bases need to be equipped with maintenance docks, reserve ammunition, and store food that can be stored for a long time, such as bacon, various cans, etc., and other barracks buildings. Needless to say, etc.
By the way, in order to protect the base and the ships parked in the base and avoid sneak attacks by the enemy, you have to build a coastal defense fort to guard the home and courtyard...
In the end, after this whole set, the money was not as simple as just two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver.
Shipbuilding funds are actually only a part of all the navy's expenditures.
Expanding the fleet and increasing the cost of battleships will probably double the cost after 250,000 taels of silver.
The Navy immediately said that it would add ten more ships to the original two-ship building plan, saying that it would make up a total of twelve ships and create three squadrons.
In this way, rotation can be implemented in the future to ensure that while maintaining normal maintenance, more than eight battleships can perform tasks all year round.
Naturally, Luo Zhixue would not agree easily.
Nowadays, although the Chu Empire has a lot of fiscal revenue, it also has many places to spend money. The Northeast Campaign is being prepared, which will cost at least tens of millions of taels of military expenses...
Then the internal restoration of people's livelihood is also a very expensive thing. Nowadays, many places in the country, especially many provinces north of the Yangtze River, including Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi and other places are suffering from the scourge of war. Local said It is too easy for the people to live without a living... When the Chu Empire first moved north, the northern provinces were really starved for thousands of miles, and nine out of ten houses were empty.
The Dachu Empire conducted a simple census in the first half of the year. Although the statistics were incomplete, and the population in Yunnan and Guizhou were not counted at that time, and the population in some remote places was not counted, the final results were only seven. Tens of millions of people...and the population of the northern provinces has dropped to an alarming level.
The Dachu Empire wanted to restore people's livelihood, build infrastructure, especially water conservancy facilities, and squeeze out money to support industrial development, provide basic education, etc... There were many places to spend money.
At this time, the Navy asked for at least two and a half million taels of additional funding. This was not something that was given just on the spot. Luo Zhixue had to consider it carefully.
Good deal, but in fact, it is rejected without considering it. As long as the Eastern Capture is not destroyed, it is impossible for the Chu Empire to invest such a huge amount of money in the navy for the time being.
