In fact, in terms of the composition of the warships built by Lin Hong's Royal Navy, there were also drawbacks in the construction of the land -- with the construction of a large number of iron-waki-hulled cruisers, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-class ships in the original navy were retired one after another, but heavy warships such as 122-gun battleships, first-class ships, and second-class ships were still the main firepower output of the four major navies.

The Royal Navy of the Imperial Chinese Empire is now in the process of transforming the sail fleet into a modern steam fleet, and the main cruiser in the Four Oceans Navy is the "Yaowu" class ironwaki-hulled dome cruiser developed in 1837. Among them, the keel, front fighting whale, flank, beam, and bulkhead are all made of iron sheets and iron troughs. Iron sheets and iron grooves are riveted with "more than 130,000 densely embedded bubble nails".

The displacement of the Yaowu class is about 2,200 tons, the length and width of the ship is 36 feet, and the draft power unit is three coal-fired boilers developed on the boiler drawings given by Lin Hong of the Imperial Scientific Research Institute, because the circular boiler is used to provide steam power, so the propulsion power is only 2400 horsepower, and the average speed is 16 knots. The armament includes 2 150mm caliber main guns, 6 100mm secondary guns, 4 70mm auxiliary guns produced by the Royal Artillery Factory, and two small boats equipped with pole mines for torpedoes.

Prior to this, the improved Yangwei-class dome cruiser of the Guangzhou class was in service in the Imperial Fleet, with a length of 64 meters, a width of 8.99 meters, a draft of 3.81 meters, a standard displacement of 1,258 tons, and a standard displacement of 6 round boilers (the historical Kangbang horizontal cylinder steam engine), with a power of 1,750 horsepower, a speed of 15 knots, a sail rigging, a downwind speed of 16 knots, and a deck of 2 steel masts and 1 wooden mast, which can use sail power. The whole ship has a strength of 180 people. The main armament is 1 150mm breech steel cannon (located in the bow) and 6 120mm breech guns (located on both sides of the ship's side). With the invention of high explosives, the artillery in the navy was breech-loading except for sailboats, and the power was huge, which was much stronger than that of the naval ships of various countries in the same period.

The Dong Wanlu class battleship, equipped with 8 68-pounder guns and a hard hull, is the current elite ship of the Imperial Navy, with strong firepower, high defense, and not slow speed. Perhaps better ships could continue to evolve, but by the mid-19th century, when steam-powered and hull armor were maturing, the life of sail-hulled warships was coming to an end.

It's a pity that due to the relatively late appearance of the Dongwanlu class, Lin Hong at that time already had a mature iron-hulled steam warship and even a newly developed ironclad ship, so the Dongwanlu class was not mass-produced and only equipped with the fleet of North America. The British ambassador Yilu believed that Lin Hong's imperial navy had about 200 large and small warships, and more than 60 capital ships, which was actually a serious underestimation of Lin Hong's strength. The escort fleet guarding the Nanyang trade route alone has more than 60 frigates and cruisers of the fifth and sixth classes, and the main ships of the main fleet of the Nanyang are 40, including five Shanghai-class improved Beijing-class ironclad ships and 23 Yaowu-class and Guangzhou-class improved Yangwei-class iron-hulled dome cruisers. Not counting the Lanfang fleet under the Nanyang Admiralty, 70% of the warships of the Imperial Royal Navy are in a situation of insufficient utilization, whether it is escorting or fighting pirates, they must queue up, and some warships need to wait for several months to go on a mission, so that Lin Hong wants to transform the sail warship into a merchant ship and buy it to a shipping company.

On the sea of Malacca, fifty-seven powerful fleets from Europe and India, which only the British and Dutch fleets, were passing by proudly, the Netherlands was not willing to be seized by China in Southeast Asia, and decided to recapture Southeast Asia at any cost, so they secretly signed a treaty of alliance with Britain and sent a fleet to India to form a joint fleet with the British fleet. Lin Hong knew about the secret treaty between the Netherlands and Britain through Jinyiwei, but this war was the best stage for China to show its strength, and Lin Hong still thought that the opponent was too weak!

Bomai stood on the flagship Bombay and was also excited in his heart. It was only at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1815 that the British commanded such a huge fleet, when they had 33 warships, including 27 battleships, 3 1st and 4 2nd class. This fleet, which had always been formidable, won more at Trafalgar, defeating 40 warships of the French and Spaniards, and achieving a reputation as a maritime supremacy for a century.

Now, with a fleet larger than Lord Nelson's, he has come to the Far East to wage a great battle against the ancient empire of the Far East, which has encroached on the interests of noble whites.

Bomai was able to become the commander of the fleet, and nine points it was due to luck. At this time, the British naval marshal was in the era of lack of succession, many old admirals were retired, and some led the Mediterranean Fleet, the American Fleet, etc., which were more concerned with the interests of the empire, and his strong competitors were mostly troubled by trivial matters or illnesses, and Bommey, who had the experience of an expedition to the Far East, was promoted to rear admiral and led this huge fleet on the expedition.

It's just that this fleet is not like the one in the Battle of Trafalgar, which consisted mainly of battleships, but slightly more frigates than battleships. This is dictated by the complexity of this mission. Europeans believe that the Chinese may have some battleships, but the absolute number will not be too much, large-scale battleship operations are basically impossible, in addition, this military operation also has a variety of combat missions such as occupying land and coastal defense, combating small-scale enemy attacks, escort, etc., then bulky battleships are obviously not applicable, and small and flexible frigates and cruisers are the best choice.

Before the expedition, Bommer had proposed to the Secretary of the Navy that a first-class ship be requisitioned from the mainland as a flagship, but the British believed that China had sold warships as civilian merchant ships in recent years, and the naval power had been greatly weakened, not to mention that even if China had giant warships, it would not be sent, after all, China's coastline needed these giant ships more, and the giant ships in Europe, as a national symbol, rarely left Europe, and Bermai was only a rear admiral, and he was not qualified to serve as the captain of a first-class ship. And the presence of China's East African Fleet threatens India's shipping lanes, and India's Grand Fleet refuses to send its only first-class ship on the grounds of defending against harassment by the East African fleet. So this time the flagship of the combined fleet is the second-class ship Bombay from the Indian Grand Fleet.

Sanfa Port, the temporary anchorage of the South China Sea Fleet, Captain Cao Fu is conducting a routine inspection of his fleet.

When establishing the detachment fleet, Lin Hong set Cao Fu's combat goal was to maintain the country's absolute maritime control in the South Seas. This goal requires not only that the South China Sea Squadron have a strong ability to maneuver and be able to quickly respond to any military threat that occurs in the South China Sea waters, but also that the South China Sea Squadron has a strong offensive capability and sufficient firepower output. Therefore, when the ironclad ships were finalized and produced, the Nanyang Fleet was divided into five ironclad ships, Changfeng, Polang, Dingyuan, Weiyuan, and Laiyuan, in addition to the Nanyang, the flagship of the original 122-gun super battleship, the first-class ships Haidongxiong and Fubo, and the two second-class battleships Jiyuan and Pingyuan. The main fleet of the Nanyang Fleet also had nearly 21 iron-wakiled cruisers. In addition to the original 122-gun super battleship Beiyang and the first-class ships Zhenyuan, Huangquan, Empire, and Zhonghua, as well as four second-class battleships, the Beiyang Navy Fleet also has a quota of five ironclad ships and 17 cruisers from the Admiralty. In Lin Hong's opinion, the sail fleet will not go to sea to fight, and only use it as a coastal defense, even a 122-gun sail battleship, after all, his navy already has ironclad ships and iron-hulled cruisers. He envisioned a pure steam fleet to meet future naval battles, knowing that at this time, even if they were not proficient in steam warships in Europe, sail warships were still the main force.

But it was said that Cao Fu was looking at the dense warships in Sanfa Port, and his heart was relieved, although before he came to Sanfa, Lin Hong made a decision and added 7 third-class ships to the Nanyang Fleet, so that the main fleet of the Nanyang has a total of 3 super ships, two second-class ships, 15 third-class ships, five ironclad ships, and 21 dome cruisers. However, Cao Fu knew that the Nanyang Fleet in this operation was divided into two parts, one part was the steam fleet composed of ironclad ships and cruisers, and the other part was the sail fleet, although the steam fleet did not have as many guns as the sail fleet, but it was better than the enemy's sail fleet with an average speed much higher than the enemy's sail fleet, and the navy's advantage in artillery range and power could completely defeat the British and Dutch fleets, but the fact was that in terms of operational concepts, the naval staff officers of the staff headquarters still put the sail fleet in the position of the main force. After all, the mainstream of the world's navy is still sail warships, even if China's mainstream has changed to steam warships and even ironclad ships have been built, but the naval fleets of the four parts of the Chinese Empire still retain a large number of sail ships, and sail warships are still the irreplaceable main force.

At this time, the Nanyang Navy gathered the main forces of various sub-fleets to participate in this operation, excluding warships below the third level, and the main fleet also had nearly 50 warships, and five ironclad ships alone were enough for Bomai's combined fleet to drink a pot.

Cao Fu boarded the first warship he was going to inspect today, the Nanyang. This warship is an old warship that existed when the Navy was established, and the Dreadnought class is also known as the Nanyang class in China because the Nanyang is the first Royal Navy's 122-gun super battleship. Captain Luan Pinghuan is also a veteran who follows Cao Fu, after Cao Fu got on the ship, Luan Pinghuan stood up and saluted, and said, "Welcome, commander-in-chief!" ”

Cao Fu returned a military salute, looked at the orderly deck of the Nanyang, and said with a smile: "I'll just say, the Nanyang doesn't actually need to come and see, Brigadier General Luan is strict with himself at all times, and there will be no problems." ”

Luan Pinghuan said solemnly: "Military regulations must be strictly enforced, and the commander-in-chief, whether it is the last general or the commander-in-chief, must be meticulous." ”

Cao Fu laughed heartily, patted him, and said, "Teach me a lesson, you kid has a lot of skills!" ”

Luan Pinghuan did not answer, but only stretched out his hand to invite and accompanied Cao Fu to inspect the maintenance and combat readiness of his warship.

Cao Fu, Luan Pinghuan and his entourage came to the deck of the battery, Cao Fu stretched out his hand and groped in the chamber of the 32-pounder cannon for a while, then took out his hand, looked at it, and said with a smile: "Is it very clean, your cannon has been used for so long, and the inside of the gun chamber is still well maintained." ”

Luan Pinghuan smiled rarely, and said, "If you don't take good care of it, how can you use it in war?" My Nanyang is the oldest, and some of the guns are even old guns that participated in the Battle of Kinmen, and it is estimated that they will be replaced when they run out of this time. ”

Cao Fu nodded, thought for a while, and said: "It's easy to say, we brought some of the newly made rifled guns from Guangdong, and the caliber is almost 75mm and 150mm, which is estimated to be suitable for your use, but the number is not much, only about 200 guns, if you perform well this time, I will replace some of the old guns for you." Although he knew that such a battleship would retire from the stage of history in future naval battles, it was still the main force in the Battle of Malacca on horseback. As a manifestation of the power of the country, he had a good impression of the 122-gun super battleship.

Luan Ping raised his eyebrows happily and saluted: "Thank you, General!" ”

Then after thinking about it, Luan Pinghuan hesitated a little and asked, "General, what is our combat mission this time?" ”

"Decisive battle!"