Just when Jiangnan Shipping Company Cheng Tongxing came to Songjiang Naval Shipyard to see the 10,000-ton passenger ship Jiangnan they had ordered, at the other end of the shipyard, the representative of the navy stationed at the factory, Commodore Ying Yang, also brought a group of naval officers. , wearing a safety helmet, boarded the Yingtian battleship which was being outfitted.
As a new generation battleship of the Da Chu Empire, the ship has received great attention from the navy. In order to ensure that the ship can be put into active service on time this winter, Ying Yang, as the representative of the navy stationed at the factory, is also very concerned and often goes to the dock for inspections in person. The construction progress is also to check the quality problems during the construction process.
After all, the ship has successively applied many new designs and new technologies during the construction process, and new technologies mean risks.
Not to mention, the ship was stopped several times during the construction process to change the design, making the construction process complicated and the quality risk high.
At first, the ship was actually built as the second ship of the Hantian battleship. However, due to the rapid technological breakthroughs in all aspects of the Dachu Empire in recent years, new things have appeared from time to time.
For example, naval guns, the Hantian battleship and the follow-up ship Yingtian were initially expected to be equipped with large-caliber front-loading smoothbore cannons. However, it did not take long for the front-loading rifled gun technology to mature, and it achieved good results in the Indian Peninsula Campaign. Test application effects.
After the news spread back to China, the Hantian battleship, which had been mostly built, removed its front-loading smoothbore cannon and began to replace it with a front-loading rifled cannon as the main gun.
During the same period, the top brass of the Navy also secured the three major steam engine manufacturers and created the Naval Joint Steam Engine Factory. Then they obtained a joint steam engine that integrated the new technologies of the three major manufacturers. This steam engine has better performance than the single-technology steam engines of the three major manufacturers. Huge performance improvements.
In many cases, the design of the Hantian-class No. 2 ship Yingtian, which was not in progress at all, was significantly changed to install a combined steam engine power system, and at the same time, the gun deployment method was changed to better utilize the firepower of the front-mounted rifled gun. It is equipped with a 200 mm caliber front-loading rifled main gun with more powerful firepower.
After many design changes, the battleship Yingtian has a full-load displacement of more than 6,300 tons, a maximum steam engine power of 6,500 hp, a maximum pure steam engine power speed of 12 knots, and a pure steam engine power range of 8 knots and 3,000 nautical miles. nautical miles.
On the central axis of the main deck, there is a double open-air rotating turret at the front and rear, and four 200mm front-loading rifled guns are deployed.
A total of sixteen 150mm front-loading rifled guns are deployed on the sides, and six 75mm front-loading rifled guns are deployed on both sides of the bow and stern.
Although the sails were retained when the ship of this class was first designed, the design was changed again during the construction process, and the sails were finally cancelled.
The main reason is that the tonnage is too large and the sail power can no longer move it. More importantly, the sail equipment will affect the firing range of the naval gun.
When shipside guns were used in the past, naval guns could only fire from the side to attack the enemy, and the shooting angle was very small, and the complex sails on the deck naturally could not affect the shooting range.
But today's new warships, including Yingtian-class battleships and Jinzhou-class cruisers, all have their main guns deployed on the front and rear central axis, and the guns can be rotated to achieve a wide range of shooting angles.
In this case, sail rigging became a burden and was eventually eliminated on new battleships and large-tonnage cruisers.
In terms of armor protection, the entire ship of this class adopts an iron shell. In addition, an armor belt of wrought iron and thickened wooden boards is laid above the waterline. The thickness of this armor belt is actually very average. If compared with the warships of the same era in the original time and space, it is overwhelming. It is at the level of a cruiser, but it is still more than enough to block the solid bullets of the front-loaded smoothbore gun at medium and long distances.
In addition to armor protection, coal cabins are also deployed on both sides of the ship to prevent enemy solid shells from penetrating the armor belt and penetrating into the hull to cause damage. A large amount of coal is accumulated together, and the protection effect against armor-piercing projectiles is quite good.
In the anti-sinking design of the hull, in addition to the watertight cabin design, a steam engine-powered water pump is also installed. In addition to the power of the main engine, the power source of these water pumps can also be independently deployed small steam engines when the main engine fails. A lifeboat large enough to accommodate the crew is also installed.
Numerous new design concepts make the Yingtian battleship fundamentally different from a series of Da Chu Empire warships built before. It is hard to say whether the combat effectiveness can be improved, but the visual effect is very outstanding.
Navy representative Brigadier General Ying Yang couldn't help but be excited every time he came to see the ship. In his view, when the warship was put into service, its powerful maneuverability and firepower made the ship fully capable of dealing with old-style warships. The battleships formed an overwhelming advantage.
The previous battleships of four to five thousand tons were not considered battleships in front of the Yingtian. At most, they were cruisers protected by armored belts.
In fact, this is indeed the case... When the Da Chu Empire Navy decided to use a large number of front-loaded rifled guns and refit the original old battleships, many first-class battleships of three to four thousand tons that had been the main force in the past had their status. It started to feel awkward.
Because of the small tonnage, the influence of sail installation, and the poor layout of naval guns, it is difficult to install a large number of large-caliber long-tube front-loading rifled guns. After modification, the number of equipped naval guns often increases. A decrease in magnitude.
Although the firepower has actually been greatly improved, the number of artillery is much less. If the combat effectiveness of battleships is still measured by the number of naval guns in the past, then these modified battleships can only be regarded as cruiser.
Fortunately, the ship types of the Da Chu Empire Navy are divided based on tactical functions, not simply on the basis of tonnage and number of guns.
So even if some modified battleships no longer look like battleships, they are still temporarily classified as battleships.
However, when large-tonnage battleships, such as the Yingtian class, or even subsequent battleships are completed and put into service in the future, and the number of large-tonnage battleships increases, these old medium-tonnage battleships may be classified as cruisers in the combat order.
After Commodore Ying Yang and other ships inspected the construction progress of the Yingtian battleship, they went to the Kunming, the second ship of the Yingtian-class battleship next door, to inspect the construction progress.
The hull construction of the Kunming battleship has come to an end. It is expected that the hull construction will be completed this month, and then it will be launched and subsequent outfitting will be carried out. The overall progress is about three months later than that of the Yingtian battleship.
The last Yingtian-class battleship, the third Yingtian-class ship Anqing, was built in the Guangzhou Shipyard. The construction progress is even slower and is expected to be about four months later than the Yingtian.
The three Yingtian-class battleships are a new attempt by the Chu Empire Navy to build battleships in the new era.
New combined steam engine power system.
A new way of deploying naval guns with open-air rotating turrets in front and behind the central axis.
A new, more powerful 200mm front-loading rifled gun.
During the warship design stage, many special designs were made in terms of gun deployment and hull design in order to deploy front-mounted rifled guns.
At the same time, a comprehensive anti-sinking design is applied.
Brand new wrought iron and thickened plank armor scheme.
These things are actually a great challenge to the shipbuilding industry and its supporting industries of the Chu Empire.
The successful construction of this class of ships not only requires many technical breakthroughs by the shipyard itself, but also requires continuous technical breakthroughs by supporting manufacturers.
If the Hantian battleship is still just a transitional battleship, then the Yingtian battleship has completed the basic transition and gathered and applied all new technologies.
This has created a series of new available warship design solutions and supporting subsystem technologies.
A new era for the Chu Empire's navy has arrived!
The Naval Ship Affairs Department of the Dachu Empire has designed a brand new battleship based on the design experience of the Yingtian-class battleship.
Compared with Yingtian-class battleships, they have larger tonnage, stronger firepower, better protection, faster speed, and better seaworthiness.
And it is also a battleship powered purely by steam engines and without a sail system.
This is the Jinan-class battleship, with a full load displacement of more than 9,000 tons. It is expected to be equipped with four 200mm front-loading rifled guns, but the main gun has a longer diameter, a longer range, greater power, and more weapons. With a 150mm front-mounted rifled secondary gun, it is expected to have a maximum speed of 14 knots under pure steam engine power and an endurance of 8 knots and 3,000 nautical miles.
At the same time, it has a more excellent anti-sinking hull design, more complete watertight cabin protection, and a completely independent steam pumping system.
It also has excellent ocean trial capabilities, which improves the rolling problem. It also has a larger tonnage of coal and fresh water storage space, better living and living space for the crew, and more food and fresh water configurations.
To put it bluntly, even though the tonnage of this thing has increased by more than 3,000 tons, this thing is actually a complete model of the Yingtian-class battleship... In terms of firepower and protection, the increase is actually not huge.
The main guns are still four 200mm front-loading rifled guns, and the number of 150mm secondary guns has been increased to twenty-two, but in fact it is just like that.
In the original time and space of the 1860s and 1970s, with such a tonnage and such firepower, it would be a big ship resisting trotting...a waste of tonnage.
However, the battleships of the navies of various countries in the original time and space had to face the same powerful armored ships.
As for the Dachu Imperial Navy, their enemies are just a group of sailing battleships and armed merchant ships of more than 1,000 tons. There are only a handful of first-class sailing battleships in Europe that exceed 2,000 tons.
Not to mention the 200mm main gun, even if the 150mm front-loaded rifled gun fires, it will only be one shot at a time...
Why install a 200mm rifled main gun?
The Navy found that when a large-caliber rifled main gun fires cylindrical grenades or semi-armor-piercing projectiles with explosive charges inside, the artillery attack on land is very effective...
Therefore, the combat target of the 200 mm caliber front-mounted rifled main gun of the Dachu Empire Navy has never been the enemy's warships, but the enemy's coastal defense batteries...
Don’t be surprised, this is a conclusion drawn from a practical perspective.
Moreover, if you don’t use these two hundred millimeter-caliber front-mounted rifled guns to attack strong coastal defense batteries and bombard enemy coastal cities, they will have nothing to fight. You can’t use two hundred millimeter naval guns. Let's attack those wooden sailboats with thousands of tons or even hundreds of tons... The 150mm secondary gun is sufficient, and even the 75mm secondary gun can cause fatal damage to these sailboats.
Even the enemy's sailing battleships don't need battleships at all. There are naturally a lot of cruisers and frigates to deal with them.
Although many designs of Yingtian-class battleships and subsequent Jinan-class battleships take naval warfare into consideration and are based on naval warfare, some future tactical plans drawn up by the Navy have never used Yingtian-class battleships as the main force in naval warfare. Tactical plan.
Every time this class of ship is used, it is used to bombard the enemy's coastal defense forts, or directly bombard the enemy's coastal cities on a large scale.
Although no one admits it, in fact, the battleships of several thousand tons or even nearly 10,000 tons in the Chu Empire's navy were used as flagships for command, and then bombarded solid forts on land to carry out large-scale coverage of enemy cities. shelled.
Well, there is another function, which is to conduct cruises in various domestic ports and then accept visits from the public to enhance the navy's influence in the country.
In the past, whenever a new warship was put into service, the Navy would hold a naval tour day and park it in various ports, allowing the public to visit the warship for free.
This move was called by the Army as a shameful move!
As a result, the Army followed closely by organizing military camp tours, weapons exhibitions, etc., and in recent years, it also began to organize battle reenactments...
Can you imagine a large group of regular army soldiers, not engaging in drills and training, but wearing old-fashioned military uniforms, or even pre-Ming Dynasty and Dongjiao costumes, and then carrying old-style guns and artillery, and even some old armor and swords to simulate and reproduce battles? Is it just to let a large number of people see it?
Previously, in May of the 29th year of Chengshun, the Army mobilized thousands of people to simulate a battle with the Eastern Captives that year at the training ground at Wusong Military Base.
The scene was of cavalry galloping and guns roaring...
Tens of thousands of people watched it and enjoyed it, and it was not in vain.
After Luo Zhixue found out, no one knew what to say about the Army - wasn't this the adult version of war play house?
But call it a joke, the Army gave a lot of serious reasons, saying that this was to build a positive image of the Army among the people and encourage aspiring young people to join the army and serve the country.
Luo Zhixue clearly knew that this was just a fight between the army and the navy to save face, but in the end he didn't care... Anyway, the empire's military power is now seriously surplus externally; internally, there is no threat for the time being, so just mess around.
At any rate, it is the same as what the military generals said. This can cultivate the martial arts culture among the people and encourage young people to join the army and serve their country. Is it a good thing?
However, Luo Zhixue also said that the next time there is a reenactment of famous battle cases, it can be held on the outskirts of Jinling City... I will also go and have a look.
Luo Zhixue hasn’t seen the adult version of War Play House, and it’s quite interesting to think about.
In response to this, many generals in the Navy angrily scolded the Army for being shameless, wasting money, food and military expenses to play house, etc., but as soon as they turned around, they started thinking about holding a large-scale ship review.
They want to have one or two hundred warships arranged neatly in the big ports of Wusong or Guangzhou, so that Luo Zhixue can inspect them, and at the same time, the people can see a large number of warships at a glance on the shore...
To strengthen the reputation of the navy!
Isn't it just playing house? The Army can play it, but our Navy can't play it?
It doesn’t make sense!
