The construction period of a 10,000-ton armored cruiser is 18-24 months, so it is completely possible to wait until the preliminary results of the tests of the integrated fire control system come out and install it on the warship. And the traverser also hopes to use the integrated fire control system as soon as possible, after all, this is the trend of the development of warship technology, and the sooner it is used, the more it can be one step ahead in terms of experience and technology accumulation.

Another joint development project, the steam turbine developed in cooperation with the Blom-Foss shipyard is not so optimistic, and it is still in the sample manufacturing stage, after all, the steam turbine technology is complex, and Germany also lacks relevant experience, although there is the theoretical experience of the traverser, but it is not able to produce results in a short time, the project engineering staff of the Blom-Foss shipyard estimates that it will take at least 3 years to produce a sample for testing on the ship, and to really apply it, it is expected to take 5-7 years, and the whole project will take about 10 years to complete。

At first glance, this is a long time, but for a new technology, which is a new technology with a transformative nature, the development cycle of 10 years is quite short. The inventor of the steam turbine, the Englishman Charles Algernon Parsons, began to develop the steam turbine as early as 1877, and it was not until 1897 that it began to be officially installed on the warship, and it was not until 1905 that the British Navy decided that all warships built in the future would use the steam turbine as the power, and the battleship Intrepid with the installation of the steam turbine was launched two years later, so that the steam turbine completely replaced the reciprocating steam engine and became the main power of the ship. Therefore, now the traverser and Germany can only wait patiently.

After the allocation of the two warships was decided, the next step was to enter the most important price negotiations, but the result was that the most important negotiations were concluded in only one day, and the two sides did not bargain too much at all, and finally determined that the price of the 7,000-ton armored cruiser was set at 3.88 million taels of silver, or about 640,000 pounds, and was to be delivered in May 1904, and the price of the 10,000-ton armored cruiser was set at 5.08 million taels of silver, or about 830,000 pounds, and was to be delivered in December 1904. The two warships combined for a total of £1.47 million, which is a very good price, only slightly higher than the purchase price of the German Navy. Moreover, the previous design contract between the East China government and the German Navy was 160,000 pounds, so the two armored cruisers could actually be built for only 1.31 million pounds.

The reason for this is that both sides have plans to cooperate with each other, and on the other hand, the design contract for the German Navy won by the Traverser, which is four 12,000-ton armored cruisers and five 15,000-ton battleships, which is quite a shipbuilding project, although both shipyards are among the main shipyards in Germany, and they will definitely get a piece of the pie from this project.

But the shipyards in Germany are not only these two, although it cannot be said that there are more monks and less porridge, but if you do nothing, you can only get one from it, but this is definitely not enough for the two shipyards, 2 ships are the bottom line, of course, it is better to have more and the better. Although the German Admiralty has the right to make decisions on the construction of warships, as the designers of warships, overseas Chinese must also have a considerable say, so it is natural to have a good relationship with overseas Chinese.

After the signing of the new shipbuilding contract, both sides were very satisfied, and at this time, the overhaul and commissioning of the two warships was also completed, and the last sea trials will be conducted.

Since the two warships had actually been completed by this time, the displacement was tested in the shipyard before this sea trial. The displacement of the ship can be divided into five levels: no-load, standard, normal, fully loaded, and maximum, usually the warship pays attention to the standard displacement and the full load displacement, and the general displacement, the general displacement, refers to the standard displacement, including the hull, machinery, armament, full personnel, ammunition, provisions, fresh water, etc., but does not include fuel oil, lubricating oil, and spare boiler water;

After testing, the Qingzhou has a standard displacement of 6,322 tons and a full load displacement of 6,954 tons, and the Yizhou has a standard displacement of 6,341 tons and a full load displacement of 6,978 tons.

In the last sea trial, the shipyard also tried to meet the requirements of the traverser, and agreed that the sea trial would be overnight at sea, but the sea conditions required by the traverser could only depend on the sky, although it was expected to change the sky when going to sea, but the accuracy of the weather forecast at this time was not high, and the change in the air image at sea was much greater than that on land. The first few sea trials were all in the weather of 3 or 4 sea conditions, and they were basically in the near shore area, and once the weather changed, they could return to port immediately.

On the first day, the sea conditions were level 4, and the two warships sailed about 60 kilometers away from the coast, and the items of the last test were redone again, because this sea trial was all replaced by the personnel who received the ship to control the warship, and all the test items were redone, which is conducive to the personnel receiving the ship to familiarize themselves with the performance and operation of the warship as soon as possible. Moreover, this sea trial also soared to an ultra-high speed of 26.3 knots, and at the same time, it also did three consecutive sea trials that accelerated to 25 knots, which was to test the intermittent acceleration function of the warship. At the same time, all ship-borne weapons were test-fired.

That night, both warships spent the night at sea, and in accordance with the normal requirements for night watch, the personnel on night watch were left behind. But at about 4 o'clock in the morning, the weather at sea changed, first it rained, and soon the wind on the sea was strong, the waves were rising, and the undulations of the warship were obviously much greater, and on several occasions the deck of the warship was almost close to the sea.

At 4:40 a.m., the weather became very bad, the wind and rain were heavy, and the waves even rushed to the deck of the warship. At this time, Cowell suggested to Zhang Wei that it was best for the warship to sail to the coast at this time, because the closer it was to the coast, the relative wind and waves would be smaller. And the operators are all replaced by shipyard staff, after all, they have considerable experience in dealing with this harsh environment.

Zhang Wei also accepted Cowell's suggestion, so he ordered the captains of both warships to get all the personnel up, prepare for the rescue, and operate. After the order was handed down, the Qingzhou ship had just turned its bow, only to see a big wave hitting the bow of the ship, and a large amount of sea water slapped heavily on the deck of the bow.

There was a burst of exclamations in the command room, and someone even shouted: The warship is sinking. But at this moment, the bow of the ship suddenly rose upward, and actually broke free from the seawater, only to see the sea water rushing down from the upturned deck of the warship, and even many of them rushed to the porthole of the headquarters, but when the warship was designed, three gaps were left on the sides of the ship, and many people did not understand the meaning at that time, in fact, it was used for drainage, so before the warship could lie down again, the seawater on the deck had been completely left.

However, the warship fell together like this, and many people in the headquarters fell to the ground. Zhang Wei frowned, in fact, he has experienced this kind of weather environment no less than 10 times, just now it was just a normal bow burying the waves, if it is to set up his own Sanya ship, of course, there is no worry at all, but whether this warship can resist, Zhang Wei's heart is not bottomless, after all, he does not have a lot of experience in operating warships in this era.

Zhang Wei also knew that he must not panic at this time, so he immediately said loudly: "All personnel should not panic, the people of the command headquarters should find seats and sit down, fasten their seat belts, notify the helmsman to stabilize the rudder, and the personnel in the cabin should change into life jackets, find a place to hold on, and do not go to the deck." He turned to Colwell and said, "You should be more experienced than us in dealing with this kind of weather, so you will be in charge." ”

Cowell also nodded, and immediately took over the captain's position, and said, "15 degrees to the left, slow down 3 knots." ”

At this time, another big wave came, and the bow of the ship was buried in the sea again, but it soon jumped out of the water, but with the experience of the previous time, the receivers all sank down, and no one screamed again.

As soon as the wave ended, Cowell immediately ordered again: "Return to the rudder 10 degrees, and the speed will remain the same." ”

Seeing that the warship was under control, Zhang Wei was also a little relieved, so he could take care of the situation of the Yizhou from the porthole, only to see that the Yizhou was also up and down in the wind and waves, so he hurriedly said: "Contact the Yizhou and ask about their situation." ”

Although the radio transmission signal is affected during the storm, the travelers bring with them the best communication equipment from the old plane, so they can still be heard clearly despite the intermittent sounds. And Yizhou's reply was that the situation was fine.

Zhang Wei listened, and was a little relieved, but the eyes of Scheer and Cowell flashed with a different color, I didn't expect that overseas Chinese actually had a tool for long-distance communication, and he understood what this tool meant to the navy, it seems that overseas Chinese really have treasures to be discovered here.

Of course, now is not the time to ask these questions, Cowell said: "General Zhang, don't worry, the trial commander of that warship is also an experienced old crew, and this kind of weather will not be difficult for him." But please inform them to follow us and not get lost. ”

Then he ordered: "Turn on all the lights of the ship, turn 20 degrees to the left, and accelerate forward." ”

So in the wind and waves, the two warships passed through the sudden wind and waves, like two big fish piercing the edges on the sea, although they rose and fell, but they passed through layer after layer of big waves, and always insisted on moving in the same direction.

As time passed, and before you knew it, the wind gradually slowed down, the rain stopped, the waves eased significantly, and the edge of the eastern sky showed a gray cloud.

Colwell took out his pipe again, put on the cigarette, lit the fire, and said, "Okay, you can relax, the storm has passed, and we should return to Hong Kong safely." He turned to Zhang Wei and said, "This is really a good ship." ”