On the adjacent dock were two fast battleships.

That's right, it is the "Turbidity" class fast battleships built at the same time as the first batch of "Provincial" class.

Although the battleship is no longer the number one main battleship, in terms of cost, the "Turbidity" class, which was developed from the "Xuhai" class, is almost twice as large as the "Xingxing" class.

Because it was too expensive, the second batch of construction plans for the "Turbid Sea" class was cut before the outbreak of the Great War.

It should be said that it was precisely because fast battleships were so expensive that the Imperial Navy was looking for alternatives, and there were also ocean-going cruisers and large cruisers, as well as the modernization of treaty-type heavy cruisers, and the addition of anti-aircraft guns to strengthen air defense.

Combat effectiveness, in fact, there is not much to say.

The "Turbidity" class itself is an improved version of the "Xuhai" class.

After trying to build two "Asahimi" class ships, the Imperial Navy found that the speed index was set too low to accompany the fleet aircraft carriers throughout the battle. Especially when bombed, aircraft carriers tend to reach speeds of more than 30 knots, and fast battleships need to reach speeds of at least 32 knots.

To achieve this speed, all four upgraded fast battleships increased their propulsion power by 15% during the first overhaul by raising the temperature of their boilers.

The "Asahimi" class was still being built on the slipway at that time, and the main body had already been built, so in order to be delivered on time, no major changes were made.

As for everything else, the Imperial Navy was quite satisfied.

It is precisely because of this that the Imperial Navy canceled the orders for the next two "Xuhai" class ships and started the design and construction of the "Turbidity" class ahead of schedule.

The most striking change is that the speed must be at least 32 knots, preferably 33 knots.

This is also the most obvious improvement of the "Turbid Sea" level compared with the "Xuhai" level.

Although there are other improvements, such as increasing the angle of inclination of the main armor belt on the side side, improving the equivalent protection effect without increasing the thickness of the armor, and the use of the deep V type to compensate for the heavy wave on the bow when sailing at high speeds. However, on the whole, the combat effectiveness of the "Turbid Sea" class has not been substantially improved, and the main performance indicators are similar to those of the "Xuhai" class.

In fact, it is because of a large number of references and the adoption of the basic design of the "Xuhai" class that the "Turbidity" class can start construction together with the "provincial" level.

If it is redesigned, the start of construction of the "Turbidity" class will be delayed by at least one year, and it will not be possible to synchronize the service with the "provincial" class.

According to the pre-war arrangement, if there is no "Turbidity" class, then the "Asahimi" class will have to build 4 ships.

Because the Great War was predicted to break out in the 100th year of the New Calendar, in the post-treaty period, starting from the 97th of the New Calendar, the Imperial Navy did not think too much about the cost when planning the construction of warships. The first thing to ensure is to complete the shipbuilding plan determined by the strategic plan.

Taking this opportunity, Zhao Yu gave a general introduction to the situation of the shipyard.

After entering the wartime state, the shipyard was almost completely changed, not only working day and night, but also adjusting the construction process of warships.

In peacetime, in order to shorten the construction period and improve the quality, in fact, the main purpose is to reduce the construction cost, and the construction work must be completed on the slipway as much as possible.

The reason is simple: the slipway is a stable platform, and the construction environment is much better than that of the dock.

To this end, the shipyards of the empire also developed a "pre-outfitting" construction process.

However, this will significantly extend the construction period of the slipway.

In peacetime, especially in the construction of large warships, the problem is not very big, after all, there are not too many large warships built in peacetime, and the slipways used to build large warships are more than 20,000 tons, and civilian ships generally need small slipways of less than 10,000 tons.

In addition, almost all of the large shipyards are controlled by the Navy, and the shipyards with the name "Navy" are all mainly engaged in the construction of warships.

To put it simply, in peacetime, there are more monks and less porridge, and it is no problem for the slipway to occupy a little longer.

During the war, it became that there were fewer monks and more porridge, and this method would not work.

In order to shorten the construction period of the slipway and improve the utilization efficiency of the slipway, the construction process is reversed, and what can be carried out during outfitting is not done on the slipway.

This actually reduces the efficiency of labor.

Fortunately, in times of war, labor efficiency was a secondary issue, and there were many ways to compensate for the resulting problems, such as 24-hour construction, recruiting more workers, and even increasing spare parts production efficiency by expanding the scale of construction.

All in all, the number of slipways is limited, while outfitting docks are much more.

The construction of the second batch of "provincial" class and the first type of large cruisers was carried out in this way, that is, to shorten the slipway period as much as possible.

As for the cost of construction, it is even less of a problem in wartime.

To say that there is no such thing as "cost" in the construction of wartime warships, and what the Navy gives to shipyards is a wartime quota contract. The projects involved in the cost are distributed by the Navy, such as the purchase of steel plates and equipment, and even the personnel salaries are paid by the Navy according to rations.

By the end of the war, shipyards settled equipment depreciation and other expenses with the navy at a fixed profit margin.

During the last war, the Imperial Navy's costs related to the purchase of warships were not fully settled until the end of the 95th year of the new calendar.

Because the large cruiser was mounted first, it occupied two slipways.

As a result, only two of the second batch of four "provincial" ships undertaken by Puzhou Shipyard started construction in time, and the other two are still waiting for the slipway.

In Zhao Yu's words, the two slipways will not be vacated until the middle of next year at the earliest.

Because the core components were purchased in advance, and even the steel plates were cut, the construction of the other two ships must have been much faster.

As long as there are no accidents, it can be completed at the same time as the previous two.

Herein lies the problem.

Until now, the command of the Navy has not approved the third batch of procurement contracts at the "provincial" level, saying that the "provincial" class has performance deficiencies.

In this regard, Zhao Yu was very speechless.

The third batch of "provincial" levels has been modified, even the dimensions have been appropriately adjusted, and many of the problems exposed in the construction have been solved.

Of course, he is working on the revision of the third batch of "provincial" classes, in accordance with the opinions put forward by the command of the Navy.

White Stop War made a proposal.

Don't use the name "provincial", change the name, even if it's "provincial 2" or "new provincial".

Anyway, in the name of a new aircraft carrier with a redesign.

Zhao Yu listened to Bai Zhizhan's opinion, but he didn't think that this move could hide from the world.

According to Zhao Yu's meaning, because after the second batch of "provincial" class, there is no plan for the construction of aircraft carriers for the time being, so the 50,000-ton slipway will be used to build fast battleships or large cruisers.

Here's the key.

He Yongxing pressed the new large aircraft carrier and refused to approve it, in order to force Zhao Yu to compromise and submit the design document of the "South Zhuhai" class fast battleship as soon as possible.

If it is not done well, I am afraid that the "South Zhuhai" level will start construction in front of the third batch of "provincial" level.

Because fast battleships were extremely expensive to build, it was possible to catch a group of large cruisers.

Speaking of these things, Zhao Yu's mood was very low.

Bai Zhizhan sighed, but he didn't know what to do, after all, he didn't have much say in things like designing and building warships.