The first aircraft carrier was the British-built "Hundred-Eyed Giant", which was the late stage of the European War, although the "Hundred-Eyed Giant" did not play a key role in the war, but as a new concept of warship, this aircraft carrier has begun to lead a new naval trend, straight-through deck, island-shaped bridge, "Hundred-Eyed Giant." The structural characteristics of the future aircraft carrier have already shown the basic structure of the aircraft carrier, which made this aircraft carrier attract the attention of all countries in the world before the end of the European war, especially when aviation technology has made great progress, this combat style of combining warships and aircraft has indeed made many military technology experts feel novel.

Although the world is still debating whether the aircraft carrier is worth further development, as a large country in the East, a large country with a long coastline and many islands, China really needs this new type of warship, so when the war in Europe is not over. The program for the construction of aircraft carriers was on the table of the Admiralty of China.

As the pillar of China's navy and shipbuilding circles, Wei Han immediately put into work after receiving the order to develop an aircraft carrier, and soon came up with a draft design and submitted it to the Admiralty.

Due to the British Navy's tradition of secrecy, and the open and covert rivalry between China and the United Kingdom, it is impractical to learn directly from the British Navy the experience of using and building aircraft carriers. Wei Han and the technical research team he led could only rely on their own strength and listen to direct suggestions from the Commander's Hall. Drawing on the wisdom of all aspects and drawing on the shipbuilding experience of the past years, Wei Hanxian decided to modify the Chinese Navy's "Donghai" seaplane carrier, and installed a flight deck made of steel plates on its starboard side, and used this modified warship to carry out many aircraft take-off experiments, but at that time, the aircraft landing experiments had not yet been carried out, and the aircraft actually took off from the deck of the warship. Then landing at the shore airfield, the test is only the take-off performance of the aircraft.

Therefore, the flight experiment carried out off the coast of Qingdao Xingang is also the first aircraft landing experiment carried out by the technical research team led by Wei Han, due to full consideration of all aspects, the flight experiment was very successful, the aircraft landed safely, and the blocking cable successfully shortened the landing and taxiing distance of the aircraft, therefore, all the people who participated in the experiment were very excited, Wei Han also took the train on the night of the completion of the experiment, rushed to the Beijing Commander's Hall overnight, and met with the president, hoping to get the shipbuilding funds from the president as soon as possible. Build or refit at least one small aircraft carrier for preliminary testing and to train sailors and officers.

When Wei Han arrived in Beijing, it was already the afternoon of the next day, and when he arrived at the commander's hall, the president had just rushed back from Xishan, and summoned this shipbuilding expert as soon as possible.

After listening to Wei Han's opinions and carefully reviewing the relevant reports, Zhao Bei did not immediately express his position. Instead, he asked Wei Han a question first.

"Mr. Wei, in your opinion, with the current combat capability of aircraft, can aircraft carriers participate in the decisive battle of the fleet in actual combat?"

Seeing that the president suddenly asked what was going on, Wei Han hesitated for a while. Although he is not an expert in aviation technology, he has also carefully studied the current exhibition of aviation technology of European military powers, and he also knows that China has been in the forefront of the world in the manufacture of all-metal structure aircraft, and is even ahead of Britain, but the problem is that Wei Han is not a military expert, and he is not very sure about how much role the aircraft can play in naval warfare.

"In my opinion, at the current level of the aviation industry. Aircraft carriers can only play a secondary role in the decisive battle of the fleet, and the protagonists are probably battleships and armored ships, after all, the air war in Europe has shown that after a short period of backwardness, the army and navy have temporarily obtained the same technical support as the air force, and the naval fleet already has sufficient and effective anti-aircraft weapons, coupled with the presence of fighters, with the current degree and attack power of bombers and torpedo machines, it seems that it is not yet possible to defeat a fleet with complete anti-aircraft firepower. But on the other hand, in view of the fact that aviation technology is changing with each passing day, no one can guarantee that future aircraft will not fly faster and have stronger attack power, so I insist that aircraft carriers will inevitably gradually play an increasingly important role in the navy, and since our country has fallen behind in battleships, then in this era of aircraft carriers, we must catch up no matter what, and we must not lag behind.

Wei Han made a sincere analysis, he was very worried that Zhao Bei would not immediately allocate funds, after all, now the center is using troops continuously in Central Asia, although he quickly conquered two small countries and changed their national bodies, but the problem is that since those tribes in Central Asia are not subject to Russian rule, then how can they tame China's rule? Therefore, there are still troubles in Central Asia, there are no big wars, but there are small wars every day, and the Chinese defense forces stationed in Central Asia are now facing a small guerrilla war, and this is also an important reason why the Ministry of Finance has stepped up the implementation of the Central Asian immigration plan. Military rifles were legally possessed in the Chau Shan area to assist the military in effectively suppressing local resistance.

If Central Asia does not calm down for a long time, the central government's military appropriations for military operations in Central Asia cannot be stopped for a single day. This truth is understood by the center, and Wei Han also understands that at a time when military spending is tight, whether the center is determined to immediately order the formal construction of aircraft carriers is indeed a worrying question.

In fact, Wei Han specifically mentioned the issue of shipbuilding funds in the report, and he particularly emphasized that if the "Donghai" seaplane carrier is used to transform a small aircraft carrier, the shipbuilding cost is not much, but it is less than one-fifth of the construction of a brand-new aircraft carrier, so Wei Han finally came to the conclusion that even if two "Donghai" class small aircraft carriers are built. Central finance is also fully guaranteed.

"Mr. Wei, you are quite right, aircraft carriers will definitely come in handy in the future, and I can even guarantee that in future naval battles, aircraft carriers will play the leading role, and as for battleships, they will eventually withdraw from the stage of war, and the future sea fleet will take aircraft carrier formation battle groups as the basic strategic unit." Zhao Bei nodded, agreeing with Wei Han's opinion.

"So, did the president approve the shipbuilding program? Wei Han's hanging heart relaxed slightly, and then asked again.

Zhao Bei pondered for a moment, and did not directly answer Wei Han's question, but asked a few words first.

"Are you sure that the aircraft carriers you are building will be technologically advanced? My request is that this small aircraft carrier is not only experimental in nature. And it must also be able to serve until ten years later, we not only need warships to defend national interests, but also need to use warships to train crew and officers, the so-called "century-old navy" navy is a technical service, not to receive warships can swing combat effectiveness, so, I think, if you want to build aircraft carriers, build two ships of the same type, "East China Sea, and "Bohai, are suitable for transformation, when these two seaplane carriers were built, the center deliberately emphasized the use of island bridges. This is clearly in favor of retrofits.

When Wei Han heard this, his eyebrows fluttered for a moment, and then he twisted his brows and thought for half a minute, while Zhao Bei stood aside with his hands behind his back, waiting for him to answer.

"I would like to make a military order!"

Wei Han's answer was very good: "The wind is sluggish, and the water is cold." taste, as a ship-builder. He very much hopes to be able to leave a name in history, and also hopes to take this opportunity to train China's ship manufacturing and design team, if the construction of these two aircraft carriers is completed, it will undoubtedly improve the overall technical level of China's shipbuilding industry, so Wei Han decided to make a military order.

"Military orders? Ha. You are not a soldier, what kind of military order do you make? Good! Since you are so sure, I will leave this task to you and your design team, and I hope you can use this opportunity to train your design team. ”

Zhao Bei smiled faintly and gave the order, there is no doubt that on this issue, his position is actually exactly the same as Wei Han's. Wei Han also smiled, but after all, he was an expert, and he thought more about the technical details than Zhao Bei, so he hurriedly asked another question.

"Does the president still insist on installing steam catapults on aircraft carriers? This kind of machine has never been manufactured in the state at the current level of industrial technology in our country. I'm afraid it can only be developed slowly, and it can't be used on East China Sea, class aircraft carriers, and with the current weight of the aircraft, it seems that steam catapult technology will not be needed for a foreseeable period of time

"There's no need to rush this, it's developed slowly. However, it is necessary to hurry up, and it must be kept secret, and now according to intelligence, the Japanese Navy is also very interested in aircraft carriers, and the Japanese Navy cannot be called to surpass our Navy in technology

Zhao Bei's words are indeed not groundless. In fact, according to the intelligence agency's spies embedded in the Japanese Admiralty, the Japanese Navy is currently planning to build an experimental aircraft carrier, but there is no complete agreement, after all, the conservative forces in the Japanese Navy are still very strong, and given the Japanese political system. It is not possible to make such an efficient decision as Zhao Bei, so if all goes well, the aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy will appear before the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy.

"Please rest assured that the development of a steam catapult is very secret, and it is impossible for the Japanese to know about it until it is installed on a warship."

Wei Han nodded, to be honest, he admired the president's former idea of this steam catapult very much, according to the current trend of aircraft technology, the future aircraft will inevitably become larger and heavier, if the steam catapult is successfully developed, it will undoubtedly ensure the reliability of the future vertical aircraft taking off from the deck of the aircraft carrier, otherwise, the deck of the aircraft carrier will not be able to provide enough take-off runway.

In this industrial era, what is most needed is this kind of whimsy, and the kind of general-purpose steamship made of prefabricated components is also Zhao Bei's proposal, Wei Han very much wants to know how Zhao Bei came up with these ideas, but he also understands that Zhao Bei will not give him any answers to these questions.