"It's serious! Why did Her Majesty reprimand you today for no reason? Is it just for an anonymous article in a newspaper? Didn't you use your brain to think about it? Princess Alexandra was visibly anxious, and her voice became quicker.

"But I didn't do anything!" Prince Bertie shouted a little frantically, "Even if I wanted to do something, my mother wouldn't let me do it!" ”

Indeed, Prince Bertie had reason to be mad, for since the death of his father, Prince Albert, his mother had never allowed him to intervene in the slightest political or royal matter, except for some ceremonial matters such as visits.

"It's not about what you do! It's that your mother, Her Majesty the Queen, thinks you're going to be involved in the affairs of the Royal Navy because of those guys! Princess Alexandra said, "You have to draw a line with those guys!" You know, when your father was alive, there was no 'jury' in the Royal Navy! ”

Hearing this, Prince Bertie was obviously deeply touched and stopped talking, and Prince George, who was listening to all this from a distance, was also startled and held his breath.

Bertie had always felt guilty about his father's death - he was in the army unit in Ireland at the time, and he had a hot fight with an actress, and his father, Prince Albert, heard the news and went to Ireland to visit him personally, but unexpectedly contracted typhoid fever and died less than two weeks after returning home, and his mother, Queen Victoria, was heartbroken and blamed Bertie's death on Bertie's indiscretions, because if Bertie had not had so many affairs, Prince Albert might not have gone to Ireland. and they will not get sick and die.

Bertie later proposed to Alexandra, a Danish princess. Actually, the main purpose. It was in compliance with his mother's request that he marry as soon as possible to make up for his previous mistakes.

It was a long time before Prince George heard his father let out a heavy sigh, "All right! I see, I'll do what you say, dear. ”

This is the end of the parents' conversation, and Prince George has no idea what happened, but he guesses it may be related to the "jury beating" that was widely circulated in the Royal Navy some time ago.

For the evil deeds of the "jury" of the ships against the junior officers and sailors. Of course, he also knew that it was just because of his noble status that they didn't dare to do anything to him easily, but despite this, George, who was also a naval cadet like Chen Wei, was teased many times by those people who seemed "harmless" on the surface, especially his brother Victor, who was a little mentally unsound, and was teased even more. This time, when he heard that Chen Wei had beaten more than 20 "jury" people, he was also very happy in his heart, and like many naval cadets, he had a good impression and sympathy for Chen Wei.

It's just that he can't figure it out now. How could this matter have a relationship with his parents, and it seems that the problem is quite serious.

George didn't think about it anymore. His mind went back to the sea, back to the Royal Navy.

Although he and his brother Victor are both naval cadets, his brother still seems to be the heir to the throne regardless of his intelligence, and I heard that his grandmother is ready to ask him to go to Cambridge to study, and he is likely to command a torpedo boat.

So what's so bad? George loves the sea and loves life at sea.

If you have your own warship, you can go to Australia again, meet Terra and her sisters, and return to the lap of nature......

In the evening, when the family was eating together, Prince George obviously found that his parents were preoccupied, and at the dinner table, they simply asked Victor and George about their internship in the Royal Navy, and after a few words, they didn't say anything more, and they could be said to be depressed at one meal.

Although George and his brother may seem to outsiders to enjoy a rare vacation to reunite with their parents, George hopes that this vacation will end sooner rather than later and he can return to the sea.

The next day, George was in a daze at his residence, but the servant suddenly came to report and said "Hugh? Lieutenant Evan Thomas visited.

Prince George and Hugh? Lieutenant Evan Thomas had a good relationship, and when he heard of his friend's visit, he was so pleased that he immediately went out to greet him personally, and the two met very affectionately.

After sitting down for a while to drink tea and make small talk for a while, Hugh? Lieutenant Evan Thomas somehow suddenly offered to visit the grave of Prince George's grandfather, Prince Albert, and asked Prince George to accompany him, but Prince George did not think much about it and immediately agreed.

And when Prince George and Hugh? When Lieutenant Evan Thomas arrived at Prince Albert's grave, Prince George was surprised to find that the grave was covered with flowers, and that thousands of people had come to pay their respects, almost all of them officers of the Royal Navy.

"What's going on?" Prince George vaguely discovered something, Xiang Hugh? Lieutenant Evan Thomas asked, "Why are so many people here?" ”

"Maybe everyone is nostalgic for the days when Prince Albert was in charge of the Royal Navy." Stop? Lieutenant Evan Thomas said with an inscrutable smile.

Hearing their conversation, the Royal Navy officers who came to pay homage to the Soul spotted Prince George and Hugh Murphy. Lieutenant Evan Thomas gathered at the two of them, and many of them greeted Prince George warmly, and some of the sailors cheered when they saw that Prince George had also come to pay homage to Prince Albert's grave.

Prince George didn't understand why everyone was so excited to see him here, but he saw that there were many reporters present, and when he thought of yesterday's conversation with his parents, it suddenly dawned on him.

Just as Prince George had expected, the Royal Navy's spontaneous visit to Prince Albert's grave was widely reported in the newspapers and media, causing an immediate uproar, and people immediately thought of the "jury incident" that had occurred before, believing that it was a way for the officers and men of the Royal Navy to express their dissatisfaction with the Royal Navy's "jury" members, which were full of corpses and vegetarian meals, and some people called on the British government to pay attention to this matter and demand reform of the Royal Navy. And the reformers of the Admiralty seized the opportunity. Calls for a "surgical purge" of the Royal Navy. to remove the "tumors" that clinged to the Royal Navy.

The day after the newspaper reported on the "Royal Navy officers and sailors' collective mourning", Bertie, Prince of Wales, was interviewed by reporters, and could not wait to express his position, stating that he had drawn a clear line with the "jury" and expressed his support for the Royal Navy's "personnel reform". This is the first time that Prince Bertie, who has been out of politics for many years, has publicly expressed such views. Birdy's actions surprised many strong supporters who originally thought he would be a "jury", and Queen Victoria faced her son's strange behavior this time, not only did not blame him for expressing his opinions without authorization, but also said unexpectedly in private: "The little toad has finally done one thing right." ”

Ultimately. Under the strong public opinion and the offensive of all sides, the conservatives of the Admiralty retreated, the "juries" of the ships of the Royal Navy were forcibly disbanded, a large number of incompetent officers were dismissed, and the reformers of the Royal Navy won an unprecedented victory.

When Chen Wei took his dispatch and luggage, came to the dock, and looked at the "Unyielding" ironclad ship that he was about to report to report, his heart fluctuated.

Chen Wei was acquitted by a military court, and because the members of the "jury" deliberately injured him first, he did not have to pay any financial compensation to the members of the "jury" who were injured by him. After Chen Wei was released. Immediately afterwards, he received a letter from the Fleet Commander to transfer him to serve on the Royal Navy's newest ironclad ship, the Indomitable Ironclad.

For this transfer. Chen Wei was quite surprised, because the "Indomitable" ironclad ship has not yet been officially put into service, and it is a new challenge for him to go to such a brand-new warship.

This powerful warship, which has been built for 7 years, has a twists and turns in its own right.

From the 70s to the 80s of this century, the diversification of British capital ship design was due to the need to consider the design of warships from both tactical and technical perspectives. As a result, the British Admiralty gradually had a clearer concept of warship design. However, within the Admiralty, there are still disputes between the Naval Ordnance Director, the Admiralty Auditor, and the Navy's Shipbuilding Superintendent on the orientation of the use of ironclad ships. As a result, there was a phenomenon of simultaneous construction of capital ships with sailless low freeboard turrets and cruisers with sails (such as the "Alexander" and "Lu Mang", which began construction in 9073).

The trade-offs between sails, artillery, armor and stability have become increasingly difficult to reconcile. And this contradiction runs through the history of British capital ship design during this period.

Although France and Germany are still building this type of warship, the layout of the ship's side guns or the central main gun compartment, as well as the weight of the sail rigging, make it impossible for them to be equipped with thicker armor and larger guns, which greatly limits the development of this type of warship. For example, the armor of the "Alexander" was only 12 inches thick, and the "Lu Mang" was 1 inch thinner, which was difficult to resist those increasingly large guns.

The low freeboard turret type capital ship can solve the problem of armor protection very well, the low freeboard reduces the protection area, lowers the center of gravity, and allows the armor thickness to be increased. But it is the low freeboard that brings the need to improve its stability.

With the development of naval engineering technology, the stability theory of ships and the theory of hull linear resistance were gradually explored in the 60s. A small group of ship designers represented by Reed and experimenters represented by Flot continued to conduct research in this field, especially the tank experiments carried out by the latter, which made great contributions to the establishment of stability theory. As a result, the understanding of the stability and resistance of ships has also transitioned from empirical to precise quantitative determination. But for many other ship designers, these theories are still very unfamiliar.

Lowering the center of gravity, increasing the width of the ship, and raising the freeboard all contribute to improved stability, but the solution to the "Ravage" like the Ravage's breastwork (named after the fact that the ship has an armored deckhouse distributed along the direction of the captain at the base of the bridge building, similar to the cofferdam of the castle) turret ironclad is precisely to reduce the freeboard.

If these two problems cannot be solved, it seems that two types of capital ships will have to be built, one for the protection of the coast and the other for the control of the sea. That's why. Taking into account the need to protect overseas interests. In 9073, the British began construction of 2 cruiser capital ships with high freeboard sails.

The stability of the "Ravage" is indeed a concern. Despite the absence of a mast, its low freeboard, which was only 8.5 feet at its smallest, made it less combative. First Admiralty Milne's concern that the ship would only be able to operate on relatively calm waters proved to be unfounded. In April 9072, the ship carried out the first real ship roll test. 400 sailors walked back and forth between the two sides on the deck deck 18 times, forming a 7° roll. Subsequently, in August and September, Flot and others went to sea with the ship several times to observe the stability of the "Ravage". They installed an automatic shaking recorder on the "Ravage". One of them encountered waves with a wavelength of 450-600 feet and a wave height of 20-26 feet. The ravages pitch 5-8 degrees to a maximum of 11.75 degrees and a roll of 14 degrees. In the wind and waves, the bow flagpole of the "Ravage" was even buried 6 to 8 feet in the water, and the bow deck was 6 to 10 inches deep for a long time. At the same time, the turret, despite being 12 feet above the water, was difficult to aim at in good sea conditions. In addition, the continuous upward wave causes an increase in navigation resistance, which in turn increases fuel consumption. So even if you carry enough coal to cross the Atlantic. It can only guarantee the activities of warships in the vicinity of the mainland waters or in the Mediterranean Sea.

In order to improve the stability of the "Ravage", Froude suggested that the ship be fitted with a keel. Because it passed the sink test. It is proved that the keel can improve the stability of the ship. However, Reed refused on the grounds that the keel was easily damaged by the dockyard facilities after the installation of the keel. Therefore, it was not until 1880 that the "Ravage" was fitted with a keel.

On the other hand, with the development of artillery manufacturing technology, from 9073 onwards, naval engineers were more urgently faced with the problem that the pace of improvement of naval armor began to gradually lag behind the pace of artillery development. Even low-freeboard turret-type capital ships are struggling to deal with this problem. For those second-class ironclad ships that are not included in the battle ranks, this may not be a big problem, but for the first-class ironclad ships that want to charge the battle, it is a matter of life and death.

A year after the ravages began, her armor seemed insufficient, and by this time there were still three years before her completion. Every move to thicken the armor in turn stimulated the development of artillery. Thus, the example of the "Ravage" proves how short-lived the ease of relying solely on thickened armor is. Moreover, if the armor thickness of the whole ship is increased like the "Ravage", it is estimated that no ship can carry it. The Ravage's low freeboard reduced the area that needed to be protected, and Reed used 8.5-inch and 12-inch vertical armor plates to protect the entire side except the forward bow, making the warship derided as a "crusty pie."

The maximum thickness with which the gun could penetrate the armor plate at this time was 8 inches, but it was enough to give the ship's designers a sense of crisis. Although it is possible to start adopting 12- and 14-inch armor plates on warships built later, this is not a long-term approach. Increasing the thickness of the armor will result in the sacrifice of buoyancy and speed of the warship. Therefore, Reed turned to thinking about how to achieve good sinking resistance with the smallest protective area. The result of his thinking was the original origin of the Indomitable Central Armored Fort. He wrote: "This central armored fort, which stretched 200 feet along the side of the gunwale, went from 6 feet below the water to 6 feet above the water, and then two walls that ran across the hull. As long as the length of the "central armored fort" is sufficient to allow the hull to serve as a stable platform and remain safe if the part of the front rear wall is penetrated into the water and sinks 6 feet. "In other words, the warship is designed to have an armored protection area about 200 feet long in the middle, and to ensure that the head and tail are flooded and not sink.

According to this design, it would be necessary to increase the width of the warship, which would be wider than the existing ocean-going ironclads of the British Navy, and would not be able to maintain the similar cruiser-like design that had been used since the "Warrior". In addition, considering that the storage of coal at the bow and tail outside the central armored fort could easily ignite by a hit, Reed suggested that these chambers should be filled with water before they were put into operation. In order to reduce the weight gain caused by water injection, the nose and tail sections should be designed to be relatively narrow and sharpened, which can also bring the benefit of reducing sailing resistance. At the same time, the Admiralty Commission recognized this and agreed with Reed's opinion. They instructed that this kind of ironclad ship equipped with a central armored fortress and a large number of watertight compartments at the bow and tail could be tried on the ironclad ships built in the future, so as to solve the shortcomings exposed by the cofferdam-type shallow heavy gunboat-type ironclad ships similar to the "Ravage". This was the first time that the committee was more directly and comprehensively involved in the work of ship designers, and thus ushered in the era of "committee design" in the 70s and 80s when the British Admiralty was directly involved in the design of capital ships.

However, despite the concept of centralized defense, there are no more specific ideas about how to actually apply this idea to the design of capital ships, just a vague framework: a central armored fort that extends above the waterline, protecting the guns and turrets. (To be continued......)

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