In the new development plan of the Dachu Empire Navy, the number of Yingtian-class battleships, which are the core of the fleet, will not be small. A construction plan has been drawn up for up to six ships of this class. Construction of three ships has already started. Among them, the construction progress of Yingtian At the earliest, it is expected to complete the hull construction and outfitting next year.
If everything goes well, the outfitting will be completed and various sea trials will be carried out in the 30th winter of Chengshun. By the 31st year of Chengshun, we should be able to see the ship delivered to the navy and put into service.
Although the Yingtian-class battleship is very important, its high cost means that such large-tonnage battleships will not be the mainstream in the navy of the Dachu Empire.
The previous strategic plan of the Dachu Empire's navy called for the number of ocean-going battleships to reach 600, but many naval generals still believed that battleships were indispensable in naval battles.
Therefore, in the earliest Navy plan of 600 battleships, the number of battleships was very large, at least hundreds, and the remaining 500 were cruisers and frigates.
But now, even the most stubborn battleship faction in the navy believes that a hundred battleships are too exaggerated and unnecessary...
The main reason why such a change occurred is that when the navy proposed the plan of 600 warships, the navy's front-mounted rifled guns had not yet been put into service. The Da Chu Empire Navy, which used smoothbore guns, did not have the same firepower as the indigenous navies of various countries. Battleships widen the essential gap.
When both sides use smoothbore cannons, it means that the fighting distance is only two to three hundred meters or even closer.
In this case, battleships with larger tonnage and more guns have become an indispensable force in naval battles.
This has also been the strategy and tactics adopted by the Da Chu Empire Navy for many years, which is to build a large number of battleships to serve as the core of naval battles. As for cruisers and frigates, both of them are actually used to perform escort and miscellaneous tasks. , the thin hull and the sparse number of guns cannot bear the responsibility of being the main force in naval battles.
But after the emergence of rifled guns and their excellent performance in the Indian campaign, this situation changed.
The biggest change is that with the introduction of rifled guns into service, the warships of the Chu Empire Navy can increase the combat distance at sea from two to three hundred meters to more than 500 meters, or even thousands of meters.
When bombarding targets on shore, it can even be extended to a distance of two to three thousand meters or even further.
During the Battle of India, the cruiser Busan used its 150mm front-mounted rifled gun to increase the elevation angle and bombard targets on the shore four thousand meters away, and the hit rate was quite impressive.
This means that the auxiliary battleships in the Chu Empire Navy equipped with forward-mounted rifled guns, that is, cruisers and even frigates, have the ability to efficiently damage the enemy's main fleet.
The problem of too few naval guns will be made up for by front-mounted rifled guns with longer effective range, higher hit rate, and greater explosive power.
The problem that the hull is too thin and lacks protective capabilities will be covered up by the superior maneuverability brought by our own steam engines and the large range of the front-mounted rifled cannon.
To put it simply, after the naval generals combined their own steam engines and forward-mounted rifled guns, almost all the naval generals could imagine a scene in their minds: their own warships could safely engage enemies hundreds of meters away from a long distance. Even enemy ships thousands of meters away continued bombarding, and steam engines were used to keep the combat distance between the two sides within a certain range, so that the enemy could not catch up or escape, thus forming a unilateral hunting battlefield situation.
Under such circumstances, the protective capabilities of cruisers and frigates are dispensable...
Because the enemy cannot get close, let alone cause an effective blow to our own warships.
In this way, the large number of various cruisers and frigates in the Chu Empire can directly serve as the main battleship of the navy after being equipped with front-mounted rifled guns, carrying out devastating blows to any enemy ships.
Then the question arises. Since cruisers and frigates are enough to destroy the enemy's main battleships, then first-class battleships with larger tonnage, more powerful firepower, thicker armor, and higher cost... where is their tactical positioning? ?
It's very unpleasant...the battleships have lost their original tactical positioning, and they can't find a new tactical positioning.
There is currently a debate within the Navy over whether to build large-tonnage first-class battleships...
Six Yingtian-class battleships, this is already the result that the generals of the old battleship faction have striven for. Otherwise, according to the views of some of the more extreme cruiser faction generals within the navy: If you still want crappy battleships, just get a big one. Just pile on the cruisers and that's it.
Cheap and easy to use!
The cost of a 6,000-ton battleship is enough to build three cruisers of more than 2,000 tons.
And a larger number of cruisers means that the navy has greater flexibility when dispatching ships to perform missions overseas. It will not be as tight as it is now to dispatch warships. When some places encounter situations that require warship support, They have to be mobilized from far away places.
This chaos within the Navy and the disputes between various factions eventually led to the Navy's current shipbuilding development plan being greatly changed compared to before.
According to the Navy's new round of cost planning, six Yingtian-class battleships will be built in the next few years, but the number of Jinzhou-class cruisers and subsequent improvements built during the same period has reached 24.
The number of cruisers built not only far exceeds that of battleships, but also exceeds the number of twelve new frigates.
Because after the practice of the Indian campaign, the navy believes that the tonnage of a frigate of about 1,000 tons is still too small, the navigation performance is too poor, the endurance is not good, and it is difficult to carry out ocean missions.
Considering the navigation performance, endurance and cost, a warship performing ocean missions should be between 2,000 tons and 3,000 tons. If it is smaller, the performance will not be good, and if it is larger, it will be too expensive.
The Jinzhou-class's full load displacement of 2,800 tons is just at this level.
This is the reason why Jinzhou-class cruisers can be built on a large scale.
As for frigates, they will continue to be built, but the tonnage will be further enlarged to about 1,500 tons... This tonnage is actually the tonnage of the early third-class battleships of the Dachu Empire Navy. Well, it was also the tonnage of various European navies at the same time. Approximate tonnage of the battleship.
This kind of frigate of more than 1,500 tons is said to be a frigate, but in fact it is a low-cost small cruiser. It is planned to be stationed overseas for a long time to various bases. It will rely on the bases to move nearby and perform patrols and escort missions within a certain range. .
As the construction plans of new types of warships are gradually launched, the modification of many old warships in the past will also continue.
After all, as long as the old battleships are replaced with front-mounted rifled guns, the combat effectiveness of the old battleships can be greatly improved. Naturally, the navy will not continue to use smoothbore guns foolishly.
However, front-mounted rifled guns are also more expensive, and replacement requires costs. Therefore, not all warships can be replaced. Basically, only warships that have steam engines installed at the beginning of construction can be replaced, and the ships are still older. New enough.
As for the steam battleships that were originally pure sail warships modified with steam engines, they were originally excessive products because of their relatively large limitations. Therefore, they will not be replaced with artillery this time, but will be retired one after another.
As for the pure sail warships that have not been modified with steam engines before, let alone them. They will be retired directly without discussion...
Some battleships that have been refitted with firepower will also have their levels adjusted based on their performance. For example, a large batch of first-class battleships of two to three thousand tons before will be refitted with certain modifications and converted into cruisers after being refitted with firepower.
Some early cruisers of more than 1,000 tons were downgraded to frigates.
According to the Navy's internal plan, it includes new construction and modification of existing warships, that is, new warships equipped with steam engines and front-mounted rifled guns.
Thirty-five years after Chengshun, the Da Chu Empire Navy will have twenty new battleships, mainly eight Suzhou-class battleships with a full load displacement of more than 4,000 tons, and the Hantian battleship with a full load displacement of 5,500 tons. , six Yingtian-class battleships with a full load displacement of 6,100 tons are under construction, and six new battleships will be built in the future.
The number of new cruisers has reached about one hundred, of which the main force is a Jinzhou-class cruiser and subsequent new cruisers. The number is expected to reach about fifty. The rest are some old cruisers of about two thousand tons, and one A cruiser converted from a former battleship.
The number of frigates will reach nearly one hundred, including about 40 newly built frigates, and about 60 ships modified from original frigates, some cruisers and even third-class battleships.
In other words, by the thirty-fifth year of Chengshun, the number of new warships in the Dachu Empire's navy is expected to reach about two hundred and twenty.
Of course, this only talks about the number of new ocean-going battleships, and does not include some existing old battleships that have no modification plans and continue to use smoothbore guns. These battleships will still be retained in large numbers and will be responsible for second-line and third-line duties and training. mission, and will be decommissioned as the ship age increases.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the Navy has also submitted a construction and modification plan for a new offshore inland river gunboat. It plans to build a variety of offshore submersible gunboats with a displacement ranging from hundreds to thousands of tons, specifically for use in offshore inland rivers, especially Used for overseas colonial deployment.
After all, the Da Chu Empire's navy needed to penetrate deep into the inland areas of overseas colonies, transport supplies for the frontline army along the rivers, escort immigrants, merchant ships, etc., so the demand for offshore inland river gunboats has always been large.
Today, there are more than forty gunboats active in the Indian region, used to support army operations and escort merchant ships, and this is not enough... After all, the Indian peninsula covers an extremely large area, and there are many rivers in it.
Only later generations of Bengal, where the Chu Empire had relatively strong control, was the estuary of the Ganges. In order to control the estuary of the Ganges and the Bengal region, the Chu Empire dispatched inland river gunboats here all the year round for patrols and escorts. Of course, cover was inevitable. Army combat.
Just to protect the lower reaches of the Ganges River and its outlet, the local Bay of Bengal Squadron of the Dachu Empire Navy has twelve offshore inland river gunboats that perform tasks all year round.
Many other places on the Indian Peninsula actually need a lot of river gunboats.
In addition to the Indian peninsula, there are also a large number of places in the Southeast Asia that also require offshore and inland river gunboats...
This also led to a very embarrassing situation. When overseas, the ocean-going fleet of the Dachu Empire Navy was extremely powerful, and it powerfully controlled most of the Indian Ocean and the entire Western Pacific.
However, due to the lack of a sufficient number of offshore and inland river gunboats, the control of offshore and inland areas is not very strong.
The Dachu Empire's navy now does not lack ocean-going battleships, but it lacks a large number of offshore and inland river gunboats.
This embarrassing situation is actually a conflict caused by the strong national power of the Chu Empire and its strong external expansion, but the navy's internal strategy did not make timely adjustments and still focused on seizing sea control as its core goal.
For a navy competing for sea control, the focus of construction must be ocean-going battleships. However, ocean-going battleships are large in tonnage and have deep drafts, making it difficult to fight deep inland along rivers.
It is the inland river gunboat with a very shallow draft that undertakes this task.
It was not until recently that the Indian Peninsula often complained that there were not enough inland river gunboats and urged the reinforcement of more gunboats that the gentlemen in Jinling City discovered that there were not enough inland river gunboats.
Therefore, we urgently made a plan to build offshore and inland river gunboats. We planned to build a batch of gunboats first and then send them to the Indian Peninsula for emergency response.
Anyway, the tonnage of this thing is small, and the technical difficulty is not complicated. Just build a hull, install a steam engine, and equip it with a few front-loading rifled cannons. You don’t even need to use the large domestic shipyards to build it. Several medium-sized shipyards can do it.
The construction plan of offshore and inland river gunboats is also one of the reasons for reducing the number and living space of frigates below the kiloton level.
The Dachu Empire's navy lacked offshore inland river gunboats before. When fighting in inland rivers, it often used frigates with relatively small tonnage, such as those with a displacement of 500 to 600 tons, 700 to 800 tons. Although these ships are ocean-going ships , but because the draft is relatively shallow, it can barely run into the river to fight.
But after all, it is not an inland river gunboat, and its performance in all aspects is unsatisfactory.
Now that there are more offshore and river gunboat programs, these small-tonnage frigates have even less reason to exist.
At the same time, offshore and inland river gunboats, he can not only have inland river gunboats, but also offshore gunboats...or more accurately, offshore patrol ships. This type of ship has always been in the Da Chu Empire Navy, but it was very inconspicuous before. That’s all.
However, some offshore patrol ships with relatively large tonnage cover part of the frigate's tactical role: offshore patrol and escort!
With cruisers on top and offshore patrol ships on bottom, it was difficult for small-tonnage frigates. In the end, the Navy simply repositioned the frigates in the ocean fleet: small cruisers, with a displacement of about 1,500 tons. Serve as a low-cost replacement for the new large-tonnage cruiser... and then use it for ocean-going miscellaneous work.
As for the offshore patrol mission, it will be completely abandoned and handed over to the new offshore patrol ship.
At the same time, the Navy has improved and expanded the performance and tactical positioning of offshore patrol ships, so that offshore patrol ships have certain performance in cruising at sea to replace the previous role of frigates.
This formed the specifications and positioning of various naval warships after Chengshun in the 1930s.
Battleships of more than 4,000 tons are said to be the main force of the fleet in decisive battles. In fact, there is a high probability that they will be useless sitting on the dock...
Cruisers between 2,000 tons and 4,000 tons are said to be auxiliary battleships, but in fact they will become the absolute main battleships of the navy, undertaking almost all combat missions such as fleet decisive battles, reconnaissance, and escort.
Frigates between 1,000 tons and 2,000 tons are called frigates, but in fact they are small cruisers. They move together with cruisers or battleships and do miscellaneous things.
Offshore patrol ships ranging from hundreds of tons to more than a thousand tons carry out offshore patrol missions in domestic waters. Overseas, they are responsible for offshore patrols, escorts, naval gun diplomacy, and patrols and operations in colonial inland rivers when necessary.
Inland river gunboats ranging from tens of tons to more than a thousand tons, specially used for rivers and lakes, warships with very shallow draft, used for garrisoning, patrolling, escorting, deterrence, etc. in inland rivers and lakes areas in frontiers or overseas colonies. Task.
The above five types of combat ships will become the main development direction of the Chu Empire Navy in the next few years, and will most likely continue until around the 40th year of Chengshun.
Because the Navy has given this development plan two phases, each of ten years.
At the Qingdao Naval Base, Luo Zhixue listened to a series of reports and plans of the Navy on future development, inspected the Hantian battleship, and reviewed the live-fire training of a fleet of the Navy.
After staying at the naval base for three days, Luo Zhixue continued his journey on the royal train.
The imperial special train first headed west, then returned to Jinan and then added coal and water. However, Luo Zhixue did not get off the train. After a simple refueling of coal and water, the imperial special train crossed the Jinan Yangtze River Bridge and continued heading north.
On the way, Luo Zhixue also met with local officials at the train stations where he stopped, or got off the train for simple inspections, but the time was short.
After all, after heading north this time, Luo Zhixue's next inspection focus was Tianjin, not Dezhou and other places along the way.
July 13, the 29th year of Chengshun, Tianjin Railway Station.
The railway station was completely blocked early in the morning, and all trains were stopped. There were a large number of guards wearing dark blue double-breasted military uniforms, carrying a percussion rifle, and wearing black hard-topped hats and military hats. The soldiers conducted a comprehensive blockade of the entire train station, with people separated by several meters, surrounding the entire train station.
At this time, there were only a group of local civil and military officials from Hebei Province and Tianjin Prefecture who had obtained permission to come to greet the train.
It was about noon when everyone suddenly looked up and looked south along the railway line. They saw a white mist appearing in everyone's sight from far to near. Along with the white mist, there was the sound of train wheels hitting the rails. the sound of.
Immediately, the various civil and military officials who had been waiting in the train station all morning cheered up and came to the platform.
But the arriving train was not the royal train they imagined, but a military train. After the train arrived at the station, a large number of armed Guards soldiers descended from it. These were soldiers of the First Guards Infantry Regiment.
After communicating with the Second Guards Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Tianjin in advance and performed security tasks, they strengthened all aspects of security at the train station and along the way.
Nearly 20,000 people of the Guards accompanied Luo Zhixue on his northern tour. However, 20,000 people did not stay with Luo Zhixue. Instead, they were divided into three parts. One part accompanied the vehicle, and the other two parts went out separately to inspect the cities along the way. Carry out security work.
The Second Guards Infantry Regiment arrived in Tianjin three days ago and conducted a security inspection of the train station and the inspected area, and arranged security.
And at the same time, the Third Guards Infantry Regiment actually crossed Tianjin and went to Youzhou City for security work.
Only the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment, the 1st Guards Cavalry Regiment and the Ruojun Troops and Troops, about 8,000 people, will always accompany them.
The Second Infantry Regiment of the Guards and the Third Infantry Regiment of the Guards, after strengthening a certain amount of firepower and reconnaissance forces, took turns taking charge of security work in the cities along the way.
As for the local army troops and patrol police and other armed personnel, they can only be responsible for peripheral security work and cannot carry live ammunition. All nearby garrison activities are prohibited to minimize risks.
As for ordinary people...except for a few selected representatives who have passed the security review of the Internal Affairs Section of the Hanlin Academy, ordinary people cannot even get close to Luo Zhixue within one thousand meters.
When Luo Zhixue came out for inspection, he still cared about his own life. Even though he had brought the only major change to China in thousands of years, Luo Zhixue still knew that there were still a lot of people who wanted to assassinate him...
No matter what era you are in, whether you are doing well or not, as a ruler you must be prepared to be assassinated!
It’s not about how well you do…it’s about you not being able to satisfy everyone!
No matter how well you develop, you will still hurt the interests of a certain group of people... For example, if you kill a corrupt official during the anti-corruption campaign, the corrupt official will have relatives and friends who want revenge, or for example, if your life is not satisfactory, you will want to do something big when your brain is hot. Honest man.
With a population of hundreds of millions in the Chu Empire, there were many who wanted to kill Luo Zhixue.
In addition, Luo Zhixue himself is afraid of death, so Luo Zhixue pays great attention to his own safety during his previous trips. This time, he brought the entire First Guards Division and other ancillary troops with him during the Northern Patrol. The total strength was two Ten thousand people.
In addition to the imperial train that Luo Zhixue rode on this time, there were actually a large number of ordinary trains, including trains for officials and a large number of military trains carrying Guardsmen.
Military trains carrying soldiers of the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment arrived one after another, and then the soldiers of the regiment got off the train. After strengthening security at the train station together with the 2nd Guards Infantry Regiment, another train arrived.
This time, a large number of imperial guards came. After hundreds of imperial guards got off the train station, they directly took over the security work nearby and assigned manpower to conduct inspections everywhere.
They not only inspected the train station, but some also went out to conduct risk inspections along the route planned for the royal carriage.
The officials who were waiting at the train station began to wait for more than an hour after seeing the Guards soldiers at noon. After a large number of people stood with their feet sore, they finally waited for the imperial guards.
After the imperial guards completed the safety inspection, they fired the signal flare towards the rear, and then they saw another train entering the train station.
This time, two passenger trains that were more luxurious than ordinary passenger cars came. However, the train did not stop directly at the platform. Instead, it crossed the platform where a large number of officials were waiting, and ran to the platform in front of it, where it stopped in the open space.
These are the officials who accompany them to deal with various matters, including a large number of civilian officials and a group of military officers.
These people will form the center of the Chu Empire on the Northern Patrol Road, handling various imperial affairs anytime and anywhere.
Immediately afterwards, a special train arrived!
The reason why this train is special is not only because it is more luxurious, but also because there is a huge dragon emblem on the front of the train!
This is the royal train in the narrow sense!
The special train drove slowly into the station and stopped exactly in front of the platform for loading and unloading passengers.
However, everyone did not see Luo Zhixue and many important ministers at the first time. Instead, they saw dozens of guards wearing double-breasted military uniforms with revolvers on their waists and carrying a waist knife behind their backs.
These people got off the imperial train under the leadership of a middle-aged imperial guard, and then stared at the surroundings.
The middle-aged commander of the Imperial Guards, who was headed by him, had piercing eyes and kept scanning the crowd in front. Whether it was the local officials who were greeting him or the Guards soldiers who had arrived earlier, they were all the objects of his inspection.
He stood in front of the royal train and watched for five or six minutes before turning back to the carriage of the royal train.
Two minutes later, an official from the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs was seen getting off the royal train. Behind him were a group of people holding royal honor guards. He stood still more than ten meters ahead.
At this time, everyone saw Luo Zhixuecai getting off the carriage of the imperial train, surrounded by seven or eight ordinary Imperial Academy officials who were actually personal guards.
However, everyone only glanced at it, because at this time, officials from the Ministry of Etiquette were already singing: "Your Majesty has arrived, all ministers will kneel down and worship!"
A large group of people immediately took three steps forward, the civil servants knelt down on both knees, and the generals knelt down on one knee.
The official from the Ministry of Ethical Affairs shouted again: "Get up!"
Everyone stood up.
kneel!
rise!
kneel!
rise!
After doing this three times and completing three kowtows and nine bows, Xia Jialiang, the governor of Hebei Province, raised his head slightly and saw His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Chu Empire looking at them with a kind smile in front of him: Luo Zhixue!
He immediately bowed and said in a slightly trembling and choked voice: "I haven't seen your Majesty for five years, and I worry about you day and night. Is your Majesty's body okay?"
Luo Zhixue glanced at him. This old man's play had been played out... He said that he hadn't seen Worry about my body in five years. Wasn't he just complaining that he hadn't been summoned back to Beijing in five years and felt that he had been wronged!
However, in public, all he could do was smile and say, "Good morning!"
(End of chapter)
