Sun Hao was not worried about whether these warships could carry out training on the river, let alone whether they could sail into the sea. There is such a large river next to the city of Fuming, which means that it may not be too far from the sea. There was such a big river on the plain that the battleship would definitely be able to sail down the river all the way to the sea.

Naval equipment is not only dependent on battleships, but also cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, patrol boats, supply ships, and so on. Cruisers, Sun Hao intended to directly equip battle cruisers. I really can't do it, I'll plan for it later.

The battle cruiser is a kind of large warship built in the early 20th century, and it is a new type of warship with strong functionality that has evolved from the armored cruiser. Battlecruisers can not only effectively combat enemy attacks, but also be able to quickly deploy to deal with unexpected events.

The biggest difference between a battle cruiser and an armored ship is the armament, the main gun caliber of a battle cruiser is larger than that of an armored cruiser, and the battle cruiser is comparable to the battleship in terms of the size and power of the main gun, but the protective armor is thinner than that of the battleship, and the weight saved on the armor side is used for a more powerful drive device, which provides the battle cruiser with higher speed.

The main idea behind the design of the battlecruiser was that it could easily hunt the cruiser, as its main guns allowed it to attack enemy ships before they even came within range of the cruiser. And its high speed allows it to hunt down ordinary cruisers, evade its nemesis battleship, or attack the opposing side's damaged battleships in naval battles. Therefore, the most classic design rule of a battlecruiser is to be faster than the strongest (referring to the battleship) and stronger than the fastest (referring to the cruiser).

In the Battle of the Falklands in World War I, battlecruisers proved their worth - hunting cruisers. In this battle, the British battlecruisers HMS Steadfast and HMS Invincible easily wiped out a German fleet of cruisers in the South Atlantic (Spee's fleet). And this is exactly what the battlecruiser was designed for, but this battle was also the only time the battlecruiser played its rightful role.

However, in history, battle cruisers did not have a glorious history of achievements, and were gradually eliminated by various countries. Sun Hao's purpose in equipping the battlecruiser was not to let it fight the battleship, but to let it deal with the enemy's cruisers, destroyers, or to hunt down the battleships that were wounded and escaped.

Sun Hao also looked at the history of the war patrol, during the First World War, the British war patrol had some achievements, but later the countries put the position of the war patrol and her position accurately, so the war patrol did not play her greatest function.

At the same time, battlecruisers can also cause countries to chase after each other. Such a high-speed, powerful firepower warship is exactly what all countries need. Sun Hao believes that as long as such a warship is available, the navies of various countries will definitely compete to imitate and build it, and Britain in this era already has a battle cruiser, but it has not yet played her record. Sun Hao's purpose is to let countries go crazy to build war patrols, so as to consume their national strength.

During World War I, the battle patrol was still very strategic, but during World War II, with the advent of aircraft carriers, the war patrol gradually lost its value. However, Sun Hao thought that it could be modified in the future, and it was completely possible to convert the battle patrol into an anti-aircraft hedgehog to support the landing force to strike at the beachhead. It can be converted into an anti-aircraft hedgehog during World War II. Therefore, Sun Hao decided to equip this kind of battle patrol.

After Li Gang's suggestion, Sun Hao finally decided to equip the British sword, the prestige-class battle cruiser.

Prestige-class battlecruiser displacement: 27,470 tons, full load displacement 32,740 tons, main dimensions: total length 242 meters/width 27.4 meters/maximum draft 9.3 meters.Power: 4 Brown-Curtis-style steam turbines, 42 Babcoco-Wilcox history oil-fired boilers, power 112,000 horsepower, speed 31 knots, deadweight oil 4,232 tons, endurance 3,650 nautical miles/10 knots.

Protection: main armor belt 152-40 mm (before modification) / 227 mm after modification, armored compartment 102-75 mm, horizontal protection 76-15 mm (before modification) / 127 mm after modification, main turret frontal 280 mm, gun mount 180-100 mm, conning tower 250 mm.

Armament: 3 twin MkI 15-inch 42-caliber guns, 5 triple MkIX 4-inch 45-caliber secondary guns, 2 single-mounted MkIX10.2 cm 45-caliber secondary guns, 2 single-mounted Mark II 76 mm guns, 4 3-pounder guns, 2 533 mm torpedo tubes, Prestige modernized modification: 20 twin 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns, 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, 4 seaplanes/one catapult. Crew: 955-1500 people

Sun Hao asked Li Gang to help him build a prestige-class battlecruiser that could not exceed the displacement before the refit, otherwise the displacement would be too large, and it would be easy to attract the attention of the enemy and aim the spearhead at him. However, Li Gang was asked to strengthen the warship's ability to protect against attack, and all of the four seaplanes and catapults were canceled and all used on the armor of the battle cruiser, because the aircraft catapults during the First World War had no effect at all. Sun Hao didn't want to expose these designs too early, so Sun Hao canceled these for armor.

As for the cancellation of the ejection, Sun Hao also thought that there were no bombers at all during the First World War, and as for pre-war observation, it was completely possible to use manned balloons, which was not only labor-saving, but also very convenient.

Originally, Sun Hao even had to cancel the torpedo launcher on the battleship, but fortunately, under Li Gang's suggestion, Sun Hao did not cancel it. Battlecruisers were not originally used for decisive battles in the Grand Fleet, and most of the time they were used to break relations, blockade, and harass the other side. Compared with the artillery shell torpedo, the charge is large, the attack part is below the waterline, the attack distance is long, the high-speed concealment is strong, and it is more economical to deal with the opponent's merchant ships than artillery shells, and one shot can seriously injure or sink the opponent.

Li Gang also said that in the absence of missiles, torpedo firing is very necessary, whether it is a light patrol or a heavy cruiser, it is generally a high-speed ship, and the dodge is good, but the firepower is too low in the face of the heavy armor of the battleship, and a few ships may not be able to break a battle column. At this time, the lightning torpedo after dodging the second round of shelling of the opponent's battle column came in handy, and the torpedoes of several cruisers could definitely make any of the opposing battleships, even the large and Musashi kneeling, and the cruiser had torpedoes, as long as they held out until the lightning battle, they could definitely teach any opponent to make a good ship like expelling elementary school students.

During World War II, 80% of the merchant ships sunk were torpedoes, and even if they encountered the opponent's large fleet, the battlecruisers relied on their high-speed characteristics to release torpedoes from a long distance and stealthily release them. So torpedoes were the standard weapon of surface ships, especially during World War II, when there were no missiles.

Finally, at Li Gang's suggestion, under the condition that the trader is allowed to trade forever, whether it is an Elizabeth battleship or a prestige-class battlecruiser, the power of the battleship is powered by heavy oil water tube boilers and electrical-electric geared steam turbine boilers from the Second World War, which can improve the speed and range of the battleship. At the same time, all these warships are equipped with sea-facing radar and fire control and targeting systems in order to improve the warships' strike firepower and reconnaissance capabilities.

Using heavy oil water tube boilers and electrical-electric geared steam turbine boilers as power, whether it is an Elizabeth battleship or a prestige-class battlecruiser, the original speed can be increased by at least about 3 to 6 knots.