Under the gentle blowing of the sea breeze, a layer of fine wrinkles appeared on the surface of the sea, dazzlingly reflecting the brilliance of the sun, like a thousand silver brilliant laughing vortices, smiling towards the blue sky. In the blue space between the sea and the sky, two dark gray warships one after the other, one after the other, carved two large "human" zigzag trajectories on the sea surface, turbulent and joyful waves on the sea surface, forming a continuous movement, full of lively pleasure.

The two warships have carried out tests on the sea surface to accelerate, decelerate, make 90-degree turns, 180-degree turns, "S" continuous turns, and sail in a figure of 8 at different speeds.

In the command room of the Qingdao, there are constantly people reporting the data of various navigation actions, Zhang Wei and Xia Ruichen are very satisfied with the data obtained, and the chief commander of the sea trial, Colwill, is full of praise for the performance of the Qingzhou, although Scheer rarely speaks, but there is also a hot light in his eyes.

At this time, the tests of the various sailing performance had come to an end, the two warships were running in a straight line, the queue was changed from front to rear tandem, and the crew of the speed measurement and engine room reported to Cowell that the speed was 18.4 knots and the steam engine power was 62%.

Cowell nodded, and while smoking his pipe, he gave his next command: increase power, accelerate, and report the working status of the turbine at any time. Then he said to Zhang Wei and Xia Ruichen: "Let's take a look at how fast this warship can be." ”

Cowell's order reached the engine room at the bottom of the military aviation, although it was still early spring, and the spring cold had not yet subsided, but in the engine room, the heat wave was rolling and the steam was pressing. Several sturdy workers were bare-chested, wielding shovels, shoveling coal-fired into the fire door one by one, and in the open and closed furnace door, you could see the vigorous beating flames in the furnace, and the staff in charge of monitoring the power of the turbine kept shouting: "Hurry... Fast... Coaling, coaling, moving a little faster... A little faster. ”

Outside, there are still people braving the high temperature, turning around around the steam engine and the pot, sometimes listening attentively, sometimes beating with the wooden stick in their hands to determine the operating status of various machinery and equipment, and the vehicles transporting coal-fired vehicles shuttle back and forth, sending a truckload of coal-burning from the coal storage tank to the engine room, and then burning it in the furnace, converting it into steam energy, and driving the warship to accelerate.

Zhao Ping in the engine room while enduring the scorching heat wave, while meticulously staring at the digital changes of various instruments, these days, Zhao Ping is basically familiar with the mechanical state and changes represented by the values of various instruments in the engine room, and now is to learn the operation skills of these equipment.

Although the receivers have all boarded the warship and have learned the operation skills on the ship some time ago, it is still the staff of the shipyard who are operating the warship, and the receivers are just observing or listening to the explanation of the staff.

At this time, all kinds of data are constantly rising.

The speed of the ship is 20.1 knots, and the power of the steam engine is 70%;

The speed of the ship is 22.7 knots, and the power of the steam engine is 78%;

The speed of the ship is 24.2 knots, and the power of the steam engine is 83%;

...... ......

When the speed reached 25.3 knots and the steam engine was at 88% power, Covel ordered the speed to be maintained. At this time, the atmosphere in the command center is also very tense, because 100% power only exists in theory, and the actual power of the general ship Hao steam engine will not exceed 90%, so 88% power is basically the highest power under normal conditions, and the speed has exceeded 25 knots, reaching the original design goal, of course, now it depends on how long it can persist in this speed, and it is generally necessary to insist on at least 1 hour before this speed is considered to be of practical significance. At present, the most worrying thing is the sudden failure of the power system.

As the minutes ticked by, both warships were moving at speeds of more than 25 knots, and every five minutes, the engine room would report that the steam engines and boilers were operating normally, and every time they heard the news, the command headquarters would be a little more relaxed, but immediately tense up again, waiting for the next news.

One hour later, there was a burst of cheers from the command, and the engine room reported that the steam engine and boiler were still operating normally, so Cowell still ordered to keep the speed unchanged.

The two warships sailed safely for more than 40 minutes, and then Kovel ordered the warships to slow down, and within 20 minutes, the speed of both warships dropped to 20 knots, and at this time, the command headquarters of the two warships suddenly erupted in a burst of enthusiastic cheers. Because in the era of reciprocating steam engines, the top speed can be maintained for about two hours is quite a good result, if you want to maintain more time at the top speed, you can only wait for the appearance of the steam turbine to achieve, the battleship Intrepid ran an astonishing record of 13 hours at the top speed during sea trials.

Colwell put the pipe in his mouth again, but after a few puffs, he realized that the cigarette had long been extinguished, and he didn't notice it at all. After all, running at a high speed of more than 25 knots was also the first time in his sailing career, it is impossible to say that he is not nervous. So he reloaded the cigarette refill, lit it and took a few deep breaths, before Colwell nodded with satisfaction and said, "This is really a good ship." ”

Zhang Wei said with a smile: "It's still guaranteed to be made in Germany, to be honest, I was very nervous just now, I was afraid that the boiler would burst or the steam engine would fail." ”

After a while, Cowell said again: "Okay, let's see where the limit speed of this warship is, accelerate forward." ”

The two warships accelerated again, and after 30 minutes, the speed exceeded 25 knots again, at which point Cowell said: "Strong pressure ventilation, continue to accelerate." ”

In the engine room, several blowers, under the operation of the staff, immediately began to work, forcibly pouring air into the boiler, and the furnace fire suddenly burned more violently, and every time the gate was opened, the furnace fire would gush out of the furnace.

The powerful combustion in the furnace brings more powerful power to the warship, and the speed and power are constantly improving, and the final speed reaches an astonishing 26.5 knots, and the power is as high as 95%.

However, Cowell did not dare to maintain this speed for too long, after all, strong pressure ventilation will aggravate the ablation loss of boiler parts and materials, and the steam line seals are also prone to leakage due to excessive pressure load, and the power and transmission equipment are at risk of serious damage, so after 30 minutes, Cowell ordered to slow down and reduce the speed to 18 knots. Then it was officially announced that the speed test was successfully completed.

At this time, it was already noon, and everyone had lunch on the warship, and by the way, they also tested the effect of the warship's kitchen equipment, after all, to a certain extent, food also represents combat effectiveness.

As the morning tests were a great success, a small celebration was held on both warships and toasts were raised across the sea.

In the afternoon, the ship's weapons were tested, so the ship's large and small guns opened fire one after another, and they fired indiscriminately on the sea, causing water to splash on the sea, and the atmosphere was quite spectacular.

After an hour of test firing, all the guns were tested three times, only one 155-mm gun, three 75-mm guns, three 50-mm rapid-fire guns of the two warships failed, and the malfunction of the rest of the guns was ruled out on the spot, except for the 155-mm guns.

By this time, the test program had all been completed and the results had been satisfactory, so Cowell ordered that the two warships should be replaced by the receiving personnel, with the shipyard staff on the side to provide guidance.

After the receivers took control of the warship, the sea trials lasted for more than two hours before returning to the Hamburg docks. Since there were no major failures on both warships during this trial, they were both towed to Fort and berthed. After receiving the tugboat at the mouth of the waterway, the two warships turned off one after another, and the personnel on the ship could also put down their work at this time, come to the deck, and enjoy the scenery on both sides of the strait on both sides of the ship.

In the command headquarters, there was also a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere, Cowell held his pipe and said: "General, this sea trial is very successful, the overhaul of these two warships will take about 7-8 days, we will conduct the last sea trial, and then we can deliver these two warships to you completely." ”

Zhang Wei said: "What was the content of the last sea trial?"

Cowell said: "In fact, the test items have been tested, the last sea trial is actually for you, the next sea trial, the whole process will be controlled by your people warship, the content of the test is basically the same as today, we just provide guidance." ”

Zhang Wei nodded, and also admired the Germans for being very thoughtful, and after thinking about it for a while, Zhang Wei said: "Since this is the case, then I hope that there are two requirements in the last sea trial, one is to choose to go to sea in a weather with relatively bad sea conditions, and the sea conditions must be at least above level 4, or even level 5 or 6; ”

After hearing this, Cowell also understood what Zhang Wei meant, that is, he wanted to test the performance of warships in various environments, so he said: "I will respond to your request to the shipyard, but the sea conditions depend on the weather conditions, and it is not a big problem to postpone it for a few days, but after a long time, I am afraid it will not work; I think there is still a great possibility that the trial time will be extended." ”

Zhang Wei also knew that there was indeed a certain amount of chance in the requirements for the sea test conditions, so he said: "Well, if there is no suitable weather, then forget it." ”

While they were talking, the two warships had been towed into the dock by tugboat and berthed side by side, while the members of the working group and the staff of the Kiel shipyard who received the ship were all living on the warship, and only the staff of the Blom-Foss shipyard shipyard disembarked and left, and went home, and Scheer also packed up his things and said goodbye to Zhang Wei and the others and went ashore.