It is a good idea to support Britain to contain the United States indirectly, but if you want to defeat the United States completely, you still have to rely on China's own strength. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On May 7, 1898, the first phase of the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant was officially completed and put into operation, and the three most important projects in the foundation plan were all completed, not half a year earlier than expected.

In 1899, the total annual production capacity of China's iron and steel industry was only more than 1.3 million tons of crude steel, but in fact, the total crude steel output of the country in this year exceeded 1.5 million tons, slightly overpowering France, ranking fifth in the world.

At the end of the 19th century, when all kinds of new materials had not yet appeared, the iron and steel industry could be said to be the foundation of all industries, and the initial completion of the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant allowed China's industrial construction to get rid of its dependence on the system.

However, China's volume is still too large after all, and the output of 1.5 million tons of crude steel is simply impossible to meet all needs, so there can only be trade-offs, and the production of agricultural tools, building materials, and means of transportation has become the three main flows; as for the more important military industry sector in a sense, because for the time being, it is still mainly engaged in the production of light weapons, and Li Hui is not in a hurry to equip all militias with new firearms, so the steel consumed is not so much.

How to solve that heavy weapon? Naturally, it is directly used to produce, although now not only the price of silver has skyrocketed, but the price of gold has also risen sharply according to the actual purchasing power, and the price of the system products on the surface has not taken any advantage, but its perfect workmanship and the characteristics of being able to produce physical objects immediately when needed still have incomparable advantages in the production of warships such a big killer, especially the capital ship with a long construction time and very high maintenance costs......

Although the Haitian-class armored cruisers are still sufficient for the time being, considering that the new generation of capital ships designed by various countries after drawing lessons from the experience of the naval battles of those two years will soon be completed and put into service one after another, and in addition, since the second batch of Haitian-class cruisers "delivered," the time is almost the same, Li Hui came up with a new work that he had made with his limited leisure time at the end of 1898 -- the Mozi-class battlecruisers ......

Since the name of the saints, including the ancestor and the master, the design naturally needs to be perfect, and the completion of the Qingdao naval base and the expansion of naval bases such as Hong Kong and even civilian ports have made draft and tonnage no longer a limit, Li Hui finally no longer needs to "dance in shackles", but can optimize a perfect work with performance close to the limit. Therefore, even if the subsystems used are not much more advanced than the Haitian-class cruisers, the Sage-class battleship cruiser is the first truly battlecruiser recognized in the world in this time and space, and its superiority in performance is far from being comparable to the Haitian-class.

The normal draft of the Sage-class battlecruiser has reached 8 meters, and its tonnage has also increased significantly compared with the Haitian class, with a standard displacement of more than 14,000 tons, and a full load displacement of more than 19,000 tons (the Chinese Navy [in fact, it is the system] The definition of the standard row is different from that of the West, in fact, the data of the full load displacement is more referential. ), which is larger than the Sovereign-class battleships of yesteryear and their improved Majesty-class battleships.

The increase in the hull allows the Sage-class battlecruiser to install a three-axis drive power system, so although the steam engine and boiler are the same as the Haitian class, its power is far more surging than the latter, plus there is no draft limit, Li Hui's design level has also been greatly improved, the shape of the sage-class battle cruiser is more reasonable, and the navigation resistance is significantly reduced compared with the Haitian class, so the Sage-class battle cruiser is better than the Haitian-class armored cruiser in terms of speed and endurance.

Under normal conditions, the maximum power of the Sage-class battle patrol can exceed 24,000 horsepower, and the maximum speed is close to 22 knots; And once the strong pressure ventilation is turned on, the maximum power of the Sage-class battle cruiser is not less than 35,000 horsepower, and its maximum speed can reach more than 24 knots!

This is almost a grade with the world's fastest light cruisers, that is to say, the Saint-class battle cruiser is no longer "can beat it and can't catch up", but "no enemy ship can catch up", at least in the ocean where speedboats and new destroyers (the tonnage of destroyers in this period is still very small) cannot enter, this is really terrible, whether it is used for breaking diplomatic operations or anti-breaking operations, it will have incomparable advantages.

Moreover, the Sage-class battle patrol is not only fast in sprint, but also excellent in "endurance", even at a speed of 12 knots, it can sail tens of thousands of nautical miles continuously, even if it is not replenished and maintained at Pearl Harbor, it can cross the Pacific Ocean and go directly to the Vancouver Naval Base, which will be completed in early 1899. This once again set a new record in the history of world navies......

The 40 times diameter 275mm Griffonia "rapid-fire gun" can almost be said to be the strongest naval gun that the system can provide under the current progress of the technology tree, with the special TNT aluminum powder explosives that cannot be detonated quickly and the use of a new type of high-strength alloy steel as the warhead shell (in the case that the cap technology cannot be studied for the time being, Li Hui can only think of this workaround. The new armor-piercing projectile was enough to penetrate the Royal Navy's self-deeming 9-inch (229mm) Harvey nickel steel armor at 5,000 meters, which meant that even a battleship of the Majesty class could be sunk with less effort.

It is worth mentioning that for the layout of the main gun, Li Hui originally planned to adopt the all-central axis arrangement like the dreadnought, but the exchanges he made with Li Hui during the visit of many world-class warship designers to China in the past few years made him find that he had fallen into a big misunderstanding. It turns out that the diamond-shaped layout does not mean that the warship must be thick and short, and it is completely okay to use a normal ship type, as long as the filling coefficient is reduced a little...... (To be continued.) )