If you can mix well in Germany with your foresight, then you can also mix well in the United States, this is Li Kongrong's judgment. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoThe only difference between the two is that in Germany it is to bring people out, and in the United States it is to bring people in. Even if it can't be transported in, he hopes that after June 1940, the first aircraft carrier will be able to operate in the Atlantic, either join the British army to participate in the escort, or assist the American army in soy sauce, and it is really not too late to agree to the conditions of the Brazilian Navy.

This is Li Kongrong's plan, but this plan is designed to judge many international situations, and he chooses to keep silent, only saying that he can think of a way when the time comes. Because Lin Xianxi, Ma Deji, and others discussed aircraft carriers and planes at the meeting, they did not even mention the issue of military spending, so they naturally did not pursue what happened after the aircraft carrier was built.

Intermittently, Li Kongrong added some design requirements for aircraft carriers, such as the fuel should be as much as possible, preferably more than 4,000 tons; Then there is the gasoline depot, and the aircraft carrier must carry more than 400 tons of aviation gasoline; Other carrier-based aircraft armament was about two sorties of torpedoes, about forty-eight, and dive bombers of five hundred kilograms of bombs one hundred and twenty. Because of the high degree of folding of the planes and the addition of deck berthing, the number of aircraft on the entire aircraft carrier may reach 72, and by no means less than 64, and the number of officers and men on the whole ship is expected to be about 1,300, but the final adjustment will be made according to the actual situation.

Powerful, this is the impression that the first modified aircraft carrier gave to the participants, but there are indeed many difficulties in building such an aircraft carrier, Ma Deji has been the director of the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Institute for several years, and he is also a serious professional background, when Lin Xianxi smiled and drank tea, he coughed lightly twice, and began to enumerate those difficulties in modifying aircraft carriers.

"The most important thing is that we lack experience in manufacturing large warships, and if we acquire a private shipyard, then they also have no experience in building large warships, and aircraft carriers are a unique type of ships in large warships, so I am worried that no experience will cause great trouble to construction." Ma Deji very vaguely mentioned the difficulties of the Jiangnan Shipyard. He knew very well in his heart what level the Jiangnan Shipyard was.

Taking Ninghai's ship of the same class as an example, the construction started in 1931, but it was not launched until 1935, although the impact of the 128 war, but the real reason is that in 1933, the Japanese side recalled the engineers stationed in the factory for technical guidance, and the construction was immediately suspended for half a year, and then in 1935, it was funded by the German Navy Advisory Group, and the Pinghai was launched in September of that year to go to Japan for outfitting. The Pinghai is the latest warship in the Navy, and the level of Chinese shipbuilding embodied in the Pinghai is the highest level of China's shipbuilding.

"Now that you're in the United States, there's really nothing to worry about." Seeing that several people were silent, Li Kongrong had already thought of a countermeasure. "As long as you have money in the United States, you don't have to worry about not being able to find the people you want. Since we have all bought shipyards in the United States, it is not difficult to recruit some experienced naval architects. The economy of the United States is not good at present, and the construction of naval ships is mainly concentrated in a limited number of shipyards, not to mention that there are many powerful shipyards in addition to these shipyards, and even there will be many unambitious engineers in these shipyards. ”

"A hundred thousand dollars?" Ma Deji was stunned for the third time, and Lin Xianxin was also quite moved, he said: "Hansheng, is 100,000 US dollars too much." ”

"100,000 is just an approximate number, maybe 50,000 is enough, or even 30,000 dollars will resign and defect." Li Kongrong said with a smile, "We don't need to dig up some particularly famous engineers, as long as we lead the construction of more than 10,000 tons of cruisers, there are many such people in the United States, and their salaries can be 15,000 US dollars a year, thank God." ”

"Then this matter should be ......" Ma Deji nodded deeply, he also felt that Li Kongrong's method was simple and feasible, but in addition to the cost of money, he also felt that this matter was difficult to handle because he was not familiar with life.

"This matter should be handed over to Xinzhong Defense, they are already recruiting a lot of people." Li Kongrong said.

There is no problem with technology and construction, but Ma Deji is worried about the funds, he said: "Although it is the use of the cruise ship hull to renovate the aircraft carrier, the overall cost is still not low, and the rough estimate of the cost may exceed six million US dollars." ”

"Six million dollars?" Li Kongrong inquired about the cost once in Germany, and at that time he remembered that it was 4 million US dollars, but when he went to Ma Deji, it was 2 million more, and it would be exceeded.

"Yes. The hull of the cruise ship is also a double-layer shell, and it is a longitudinal skeleton, unlike a merchant ship that is only a single-layer shell and a transverse skeleton, so we can use this shell directly. But in addition to the hull, we have to replace a lot of things, the power system must be replaced, the armor must be fully laid, and then the upper deck must be basically dismantled and rebuilt, and there will be additional artillery, elevators, and catapults, which are very expensive equipment......"

Ma Deji's $6 million cost is only a rough estimate, and it is difficult for him to give an accurate price before he gets the design drawings of the aircraft carrier and the equipment quotations of various manufacturers.

"The Japanese Soryu cost about 40 million yen, and the Enterprise that the Americans just commissioned cost 19 million dollars, so let's save it. Another way to save money is to order in advance. Li Kongrong emphasized: "Once there is a major war in Europe next year, the price of all kinds of military supplies will rise, we must first set 34 boilers, 17 sets of steam turbines, 20 sets of elevators, and 10 sets of hydraulic catapults, and the higher the liquidated damages, the better." In addition to preventing price increases, I heard that the production capacity of steam turbines is extremely insufficient, and it is likely that it will not be possible to order so many sets, but it is necessary to find a way to order more. ”

"Then ......" Ma Deji glanced at Li Kongrong, and then looked at Lin Xianxi, he said, "What about the money?" When will it be available? ”

"It's going to be a sum at the end of the year, about nine million dollars." The corner of Li Kongrong's eyes flashed over Lin Xianxi, and he answered firmly. "The follow-up funding is uncertain for the time being, but it will certainly support the entire naval reconstruction plan, so you must rest assured."

"It's good to be able to support it, it's good to be able to support it." Ma Deji breathed a sigh of relief, the navy is a bottomless pit for burning money, and since Li Kongrong can get a huge amount of money that Chen Shaokuan can't get, then he is the Minister of the Navy of the Republic of China.

Lin Xianxi saw that Ma Deji was completely relieved, he turned his head and smiled at Li Kongrong, and then said, "Since the shipbuilding matter has been discussed, let's talk about carrier-based aircraft." Hansheng, what do you think? ”

"There are also two parts of the carrier-based aircraft, one is the carrier-based aircraft itself, and the other is the training of pilots and ground crews." Li Kongrong promised that he would reach $9 million by the end of the year, and his vest was sweaty. In the past few days, he has looked at the nautical chart sent by Qiu Zhongming to New York, and he is not completely sure of the location of the wreck, but time waits for no one, he has already sent a telegram to Lin Xianxi, and then Lin Xianxi ordered the Fuqing supply ship to go to Florida waters, and the excavation operation will begin early next month.

"It seems that none of the carrier-based aircraft can be bought at the moment, and some are even biplanes. For this reason, I think it would be better to put a tender in the American aircraft manufacturing company for the development of a new aircraft. Li Kongrong paused before continuing to talk about carrier-based aircraft.

"Bidding?" When talking about aircraft carriers, it was Ma Deji who said that Chen Wenlin listened, but now the situation is the opposite, it is Ma Deji who listens to Chen Wenlin.

"Yes, originally I only wanted to tender for torpedoes and dive bombers, but now it seems that there is no need for this, since they are all using Hewlett-Packard's R-2800 twin Wasp eighteen-cylinder engines, then why not use this engine as a power to create a new carrier-based fighter?" Li Kongrong seemed to have regained his previous self-confidence and began to talk eloquently.

"The eighteen-cylinder engine has a lot of horsepower, but the price will be very expensive, and then the bidding design, the design fee will be a lot." Chen Wenlin thought for a moment before saying, "When will the new plane come out?" What kind of aircraft do we use before the new planes come out? ”

"Aircraft carriers cost money, pilot training costs money, and since so much money has already been spent, why not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more to design a better aircraft?" Li Kongrong asked with a smile, "According to reliable information, the Japanese are now developing a new carrier-based fighter, and once this aircraft comes out, most of the aircraft, including those that have just come out of the prototype and have not yet been mass-produced, will be retired, and only a very small number of aircraft can compete with it, and none of them can be put on the ship." ”

"A new fighter?" Chen Wenlin muttered.

"Yes, the new fighter has an empty weight of less than 1.8 tons, a horsepower of about 950 horses, a maximum speed of more than 500 kilometers at an altitude of 4,000 meters, and a climb of 3,000 meters in only three minutes and 30 seconds." Li Kongrong briefly described the performance of the Zero fighter, and then said: "Future aircraft will definitely tend to be high-altitude and high-speed, and the design requirements of our carrier-based fighters are approximately: the empty weight does not exceed 3.5 tons, the horsepower is 1,800 horses in the early stage, and 2,000 horses in the later stage, the maximum speed requirements at a height of 4,000 meters are 650 kilometers, the stall speed is not more than 130 kilometers, and the take-off distance of the aircraft carrier does not exceed 100 meters when it sails at full speed against the wind at 30 knots; The climb rate of 3,000 meters requires three minutes to complete, which exceeds that of the Japanese machine;

The range is required to be more than 2,000 kilometers with drop fuel tanks, and the armament is four 20mm cannons, and the fuselage and wings can be equipped with bombs for ground attack; In addition to the self-closing fuel tank, armor will be added to the protection. Although the Japanese planes also had 20mm cannons, those two cannons could not hit far, and the accuracy was too poor, and the 7.7mm aviation machine guns could not penetrate our armor.

This is the performance parameter of the fighter, in terms of engine horsepower and empty weight, it is not difficult to achieve this design goal. The Corsair fighter that the United States has just flown can reach this level, and it uses the R-2800 engine, but the Americans refuse to sell this aircraft to us, and it cannot be put on the ship. ”

The performance of the aircraft introduced by Li Kongrong is far better than that of the current mainstream aircraft, and the horsepower has tripled in one horsepower, but when he heard that the Americans already have aircraft with similar performance, Chen Wenlin did not delve into it, he just wrote down the performance of the fighter.

"Then torpedo machines and dive bombers are also tendered?" Chen Wenlin asked again.

"There will also be tenders, but the two aircraft will be combined into one." Li Kongrong said with a smile. Seeing that Chen Wenlin didn't understand, he said again: "The British are already doing this, and the British Fairray company is already developing a carrier-based aircraft that can be used as a dive and can carry torpedoes, so that the aircraft is easy to maintain on the aircraft carrier, and the most important thing is that the tactics can be adjusted according to the actual situation, the number of torpedo planes and dive planes can change at any time, and in extreme cases, all bombers can be equipped with torpedoes or bombs."

The performance of this aircraft is roughly as follows: the empty weight does not exceed four tons, and the horsepower is the same as that of carrier-based fighters, with 1,800 horsepower in the early stage and 2,000 or even more than 2,000 horsepower in the later stage. The maximum speed is more than 500 kilometers, the stall speed does not exceed 130 kilometers, and when carrying 800 kg of bombs or 900 kg of aviation torpedoes, the aircraft carrier can take off at full speed against the wind at a distance of no more than 120 meters. It has a range of no less than 1,600 kilometers and is armed with two 20mm cannons and two 12.7mm machine guns, but is no longer equipped with a rear-firing machine gunner and a rear-firing turret. ”

The two-thousand-horsepower bombing torpedo plane, Chen Wenlin was not surprised by such performance, but he was surprised by the cancellation of the rear firepower, he said: "So the plane only has two pilots and navigators?" ”

"If possible, the navigator is also canceled." Li Kongrong said. "After all, this is not a fighter, and no matter how strong the rear firepower is, it will be shot down by enemy aircraft, so it is important to cancel all redundant counterweights and increase horsepower to escape. Speed is defense, and if the Japanese can't catch up, then the plane will be safe. After he finished speaking, he saw that Chen Wenlin still didn't quite understand, so he had to say: "This will be verified in actual combat in the future, if the light bomber wants to improve the chance of survival, it is not to thicken the armor and enhance the defensive firepower, but to speed up the speed to escape from the battlefield, which is also the reason why the empty weight of this bomber does not exceed four tons." ”

"Then we will contact the major airlines for bidding at the end of the year?" Chen Wenlin said.

"It's not the end of the year. Carrier-based aircraft are different from aircraft carriers, how can aircraft carriers be built, carrier-based aircraft are not some time in advance, and if they can't get planes at the beginning of 1941, they will be completely delayed. Li Kongrong said. We're going to start bidding now, and the sooner the better. ”

"Now?" Chen Wenlin had just heard that Li Kongrong had said that the money would not arrive until the end of the year, and he did not want to start bidding now.

"Yes, now." Li Kongrong nodded. "Now I still have $100,000 here, I can start first, and after the various aircraft companies come up with the design drawings, then select two or three companies to start paying to build prototypes, and the upfront payment will not exceed $100,000, not to mention that the money will be paid immediately, even if it is to be paid immediately, we can get it."

"Then I'll notify the major aircraft companies to conduct bidding." Lin Xianxin said that although he has not been in the United States for a long time, since he took over the aviation school, he has been approached by aircraft companies to negotiate aircraft sales, and now his contact information covers almost all aircraft companies in the United States, especially aircraft companies other than Curtis, which is almost the designated supplier of the Chinese Air Force.

"Well, let's start contacting tomorrow." Li Kongrong nodded, he wanted to meet a few major aircraft manufacturers before going to Florida. (To be continued.) )